Itanaru dot Com
by coolgamer
Summary: Adopted from Dragon Ruler 06. When Naruto breaks up with Sasuke and starts falling for his teacher, things get a little out of hand with their fun. Yaoi ItaNaru Mpreg
1. Introductions

Introductions

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"Hey, Naruto!" someone yelled out before a teenager with bright blond hair and sparkling blue eyes turned around, scratching at one of his whiskered cheeks when he saw who it was. "I've been looking all over for you all day!"

"Sorry, Kiba," Naruto said with a nervous laugh. Kiba stopped right in front of him with an annoyed look on his face. His brown hair was spiked up, almost as wild as Naruto's, and his dog-like dark brown eyes were twitching slightly at the brow before a snarl pulled back at his lips, scrunching up his cheeks that held large red upside-down triangles.

"Did you at least bring it?" Kiba impatiently asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, of course!" Naruto replied in a sharp tone, snapping his arm to his side before sliding his backpack off of his other arm. "I got it in here," he sated, digging through the pack. Kiba leaned over him, looking into the disaster area known as Naruto's Backpack. Naruto gave a victorious cry before pulling out a cassette and handing it to the brunet, who quickly grabbed it before ruffling up Naruto's already messy hair. "Hey!" the blond protested.

"Thanks for remembering," Kiba sighed. "For once," he added with a laugh before Naruto tackled him to the ground. "I was playing around!" Kiba laughed out as they rolled on the ground. Some of the students, used to the two having playful fights, simply moved out of the way. Naruto could have sworn he heard someone yelling about how 'youthful' their playfulness was. When they crashed into a tree, Naruto was suddenly yanked away from the brunet, who was pulled away by someone else wearing a large white overcoat that had a collar large enough to cover half his face and sunglasses over his eyes.

Naruto looked over his own shoulder to see a raven-haired male with pale skin holding him back with arms around his waist. The raven looked down at him with dark coal eyes before soft lips brushed against Naruto's. "Hey," he greeted. "Starting fights with Kiba already, dobe?"

"Shove off, teme," Naruto growled out with a smile before tackling the raven to the ground, straddling his waist.

"As much as I love having you in this position, Naruto, I don't think this is the appropriate time and place for it," the brunet said before Naruto was knocked off by Kiba.

"Damn you, Sasuke!" Naruto cursed. "You distracted me from Kiba!"

"I did no such thing," Sasuke scoffed, getting to his feet before brushing off some dirt that clung to his pants. "Shino let him go," he added, looking over to the teenager wearing the overcoat. Shino sighed slightly before grabbing Kiba by the back of his jacket and dragging the brunet away. Sasuke chuckled slightly before holding out his hand, which Naruto took, before pulling the blond to his feet. "What were you two fighting about this time, dobe?"

"He called me forgetful," Naruto replied with a shrug.

"That was the most youthful battle I have seen in such a long time, Naruto!" someone shouted before the pair turned to look at a teen with bowl-cut black hair, thick eyebrows, round eyes, and wearing a green outfit. Next to him was a red-head with dark rings around his calm teal eyes and a red tattoo for 'Ai' on his right temple.

"Thanks, Lee," Naruto unsurely replied before looking over to the red-head. "Why do you like him when he yells things about that, Gaara?" Gaara shrugged.

"Come on before we're late," Sasuke sighed. "Itachi said if we're late one more time, we both get a detention."

"You know, I would think that having an older brother as one of your teachers, you could get away with anything," Gaara commented, walking next to Naruto's other side with Lee next to him.

"Itachi isn't a pushover and won't do anything for you unless you do something for him first," Sasuke stated with a slow shake of his head. "And it pisses me off that we have him right after lunch. Not to mention he can smell a lie a hundred miles away." He sighed again. "The only thing I can ask him for is to get Orochimaru-sensei to leave me alone."

"Molesting you again?" Naruto asked, tucking his binder and books under his arm.

"He has Kabuto!" Sasuke pointed out. "Why is he messing around with me?"

"He just thinks it's funny," the blond replied with a small shrug.

"He only leaves you alone, Naruto, because you're so smart at Chemistry and get A's all the time," Gaara said, pointing his index finger towards the blushing blond. "I bet if you were as bad and as easily manipulated as the rest of the campus, he would get you, too."

"Sasuke's not manipulative," Naruto argued with a small glare as they entered through the doors.

"How about a random change in subject?" Sasuke asked, looking back and forth between his boyfriend and the red-head. "Anyone hear any good rumors going around lately?"

"Oh! I have!" Lee shouted. "I've heard that Neji's dating Hinata!"

"His own cousin?" Gaara asked, raising a thin eyebrow.

"Wouldn't that be called incest or something?" Naruto said with an unsure look on his face.

"Well his father hasn't said anything about it, as far as I know," Lee continued. "But I believe this rumor is true because I saw them both making out after school!"

"Don't shout it to the entire school," Sasuke muttered under his breath before they heard the warning bell ring. "We better hurry up or we'll never hear the end of it from Itachi."

"It's weird calling your brother 'sensei', you know that, right?" Gaara asked before all four broke into a sprint down the hall. They wouldn't have had to if Itachi's classroom was closer, but unfortunately, Itachi's classroom and the Cafeteria (especially where the gang usually eats) are on opposite sides of the school. They barely made it into the room before the tardy bell rang.

"You should call yourselves lucky you were in before the bell," a monotone voice spoke before Sasuke glared over at his older brother. Itachi had long black hair he always tied into a low ponytail. His skin was probably paler then Sasuke's by a shade, but unlike his younger brother, Itachi had lines going from his strange red eyes to his cheeks. "And here I thought I would have to stay after again," Itachi sighed before looking over to the four. "Take your seats." Sasuke scoffed, snapping his head to a random direction before he and Naruto went to their seats in the back. "And no touching, Sasuke."

Some of the class laughed as Sasuke turned slightly red, glaring at the older Uchiha. "I wonder why that sounds so familiar," Sasuke said out loud, wanting to embarrass Itachi, who just looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh yeah. Isn't that what I say back home when you bring Kisame over?" Some of the class was too nervous to laugh. Other chuckled. The rest were just surprised that Sasuke talked back to the teacher.

"No," Itachi calmly said. "That's what you say when Tobi and Deidara are over and spending the night in the guest room. Or was it Hidan and Kakuzu you say that to?" He smirked up at Sasuke victoriously, seeing the glare his brother was giving him growing heavier. "Enough of this, Sasuke. Sit down and allow me to start the lesson for today."

Sasuke gave a dignified snort before dropping himself into his seat. Naruto, fortunately, sat right next to him, so he didn't think of the class as the worst. Lee, Gaara, and Shikamaru were the only other ones of the gang that were in the same class. Sasuke was glad it was that way or he would go insane for multiple reasons.

One: His older brother and only family left was his teacher. And both had ways to annoy the other or attempt to embarrass him. Sasuke remembered the first day of school and found out his older brother was one of his teachers. He thought he could get away with anything, but Itachi proved him wrong. As soon as Sasuke messed up on something, Itachi made sure the entire class knew what. If Sasuke got a detention, Itachi made it known.

Two: there were a couple of people he deeply loathed with a passion. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino both have had a crush on him since elementary school. And not to mention they were practically presidents of his Fan Club that they started themselves. They were always competing for him and trying to flirt with him. He had to suppress a laugh when he remembered the looks on their faces when they found out he was gay and dating Uzumaki Naruto.

Three: Itachi brought in his friends every now and again or they invite themselves. The scariest one to visit was Kisame, who enjoyed freaking everyone out with his smiles that showed off his sharp teeth. He earned the title 'Shark Man' from his appearance of blue skin and gill-like tattoos under his eyes.

Naruto kept glancing around all over the room, looking from face to face and not even listening to the lecture. He went to Sasuke and Itachi's house often so if he ever needed help in this class, he could just go ask Itachi. He wasn't as bad as Sasuke made him seen. Itachi was actually fairly kind to the blond and helped him when he needed it. That often made Sasuke overprotective and jealous, like he knew Itachi was trying something but wasn't going to say it. Still, he would catch a word with Itachi every now and then and the older brunet would help him with work he found confusing.

There were a lot of reasons why he liked this class and rarely understood why Sasuke hated it. They had a few friends in here. The raven's older brother was the teacher. Naruto always thought it was better that Sasuke's older brother was the teacher and not his own. If his older brother was the teacher, they would never get anything done since all he cared about was goofing off.

He sighed, lowering his head into his arms and finally deciding to watch and listen to the teacher. Sasuke was just leaning back in his chair, staring out one of the windows, but a pink-haired teenage girl with jade eyes sat near the windows, so she thought Sasuke was looking at her. She gave a small squeal before looking towards another teenage girl with long blonde hair tied into a ponytail and dull blue eyes. She just gave a huff before snapping her head another direction.

"Haruno-san," Itachi said. "I would appreciate it if you didn't make noises every time you believe Sasuke is looking towards you. And Sasuke, pay attention because I'm not helping you later."

Sasuke blinked a couple times before glaring at his older brother. Sakura blushed a bright red, lowering her head in embarrassment. Naruto glanced towards her before she turned around and glared at him. 'Bitch,' he thought. 'What did I ever do to her? I've always tried to be nice to her and she just shoves me to the side.'

'What does my Sasuke-kun see in that blond idiot?!' Sakura screeched in her mind. 'He's not even that cute! He's not cute at all!'

Itachi continued on with his lesson, ignoring the glare his brother was giving him. After passing out the assignment, he went over and sat at his desk, pulling out a small book from one of the drawers in his desk as the students worked on the worksheet. Naruto scanned over the picture and groaned slightly. Word problems. Out of everything that involves mathematics, he despised word problems with a passion. He heard Sasuke chuckling next to him as he worked through the problems. Naruto just sent a slight playful sideway kick to the brunet, who glared at him with a smirk.

"Later," he mouthed, making Naruto smirk with a small blush on his cheeks.

Then the blond felt a heavy cramp around his abdomen. He gave a small gasp, making Sasuke look at him with concerned eyes. "Sensei," Naruto called, raising his hand a little bit.

"Yes, Uzumaki-san?" Itachi replied, looking over the top of his book.

"May I please go to the bathroom?" he asked before Itachi stared at him for a moment and nodded his head. Naruto rose from his seat and calmly walked out of the room, both Uchiha brothers watching him to make sure he didn't collapse. He looked like he was about to. Once out in the hallway, Naruto leaned against one of the walls, trying to make sure he kept steady and well balanced. He sighed slightly before gulping and continuing his way down the hallway to the restroom.

Once in the bathroom, he made his way over to the sinks and gripped them with his hands in a tight told. His breathing was hard and ragged. He took deep breaths to calm himself, but the cramps in his abdomen didn't subside. He lowered to his knees, pressing the top of his head to the underside of the sink with his hands still on the edge. He stayed like that for what felt like hours, waiting for the cramps to leave. Eventually, they stopped and he took a final deep breath. He still stayed motionless, wanting to make sure that the cramps wouldn't start again. When he started to get to his feet, he did so slowly so the cramps wouldn't be triggered.

With a final sigh, he turned on the faucet, cupping his hands underneath the water before splashing his face with the amount he caught. Some of the water landed in his hair, but thankfully, none on his clothing. He pushed back his bangs before looking into the mirror in front of him. Shaking his head slightly, Naruto grabbed a couple of paper towels to dry off his face and as much of his hair as he could.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" an even voice asked before the blond turned to see who else was around. At the doorway was a brunet about a year older then Naruto with long brown hair that was tied into a small ponytail at the end and pupiless bright lavender eyes. A lot would think he was blind, but in truth, he saw more then anyone else ever could.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Neji," Naruto replied. "Probably something I ate at lunch," he said with a small laugh. Neji didn't buy it. "I better get back to class. See you seventh period." And he left the bathroom before Neji could say anything to stop him. He leaned against the wall next to the classroom door before letting out a small sigh, placing a hand on his stomach unknowingly. With a deep inhale, he lowered his hand and walked into the classroom. Some people looked up at him, especially Sasuke.

"You okay?" the brunet asked when Naruto sat down next to him.

"Yeah," the blond said. "Don't worry about it." Sasuke looked at him uncertainly before sighing silently and going back to his assignment.

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"You sure you're alright, Naruto?" Sasuke asked for the hundredth time.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, stuffing his binder into his locker before pulling out a thinner one. "Relax, Sasuke. It's not like I'm going to die."

"You looked like you were about to," someone said behind the couple before they turned to see Neji with a girl next to him. Her shot black hair only reached her shoulders and her bright lavender eyes were looking at the three with confusion. "Or pass out. One or the other."

Sasuke glanced over at his boyfriend. "Neji came in while I was in the bathroom," the blond defended. "Quit giving me that look."

"I'm sure he's just worried why you looked the way you looked in the bathroom," Neji stated. Naruto glared at him.

"Neji, stop it," the girl meekly said, tugging on his sleeve.

"Sorry, Hinata," he softly said, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead.

"Guess the rumors are true," Sasuke spoke up. "You two are dating." Neji smirked as Hinata turned bright red.

"Well that rumor is true, but I doubt the one going around about Naruto is as well," the older teen sighed.

"What rumor?" both asked in unison.

Hinata wasn't sure whether to stop Neji from telling or just say it herself. With a sigh, she said it. "No one believes it because everyone knows the person who started it is just jealous of you, Naruto," she started. "But she started a small rumor that said you sleep with all your teachers just to pass."

Sasuke looked down at his blond, who had a look of disbelief on his face. "I would never do that!" Naruto exclaimed.

"No one believes it," Neji pointed out. "And in case you're curious, Sakura's the one who started that rumor. It was supposed to get to Sasuke and make him break up with you. Poor attempt, if you ask me."

"Well you didn't need to say that last part since just saying Sakura started it would be enough for me," Sasuke scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I really need to do something about her."

"She also said that Naruto sleeps with your brother the most," Neji calmly said before Sasuke started to seethe. Naruto gaped.

"Neji, you can stop now," Hinata quietly spoke. "Before you make him even madder."

"Alright," Neji sighed. "Just thought you two would like to know about the rumors in case anyone acts differently towards you. But no one believes Sakura and the entire Sasuke Fan Club is trying to spread rumors about Naruto cheating on you, Sasuke. No one believes them though since Naruto's favorite teachers defend him as soon as they hear the rumors."

"Glad I have my teachers, then," Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "If I had others that didn't like me, then it would really cause a problem."

"Well we better get to class or else we're in trouble," Sasuke spoke, looking up at the clock. "Behave, Naruto," he joked before pecking the blond on the lips. "Don't give Kakashi-sensei a hard time."

"He's the one who gives everyone a hard time!" Naruto exclaimed as the raven turned and walked down the hall. He sighed as Neji followed the brunet. Hinata stayed with Naruto since they had the same class together.

Most of the class just played around or talked with one another since the sensei was late no matter what period it was. Most of the class didn't know why, but Naruto knew it was because Kakashi ran off to molest Iruka all the time.

Naruto and Hinata just stayed around their friends. One was a round boy with reddish-orange and small beady eyes that looked slanted closed most of the time, and he was always eating a bag of chips. Next to him was a teen that looked a lot like a short-haired Sasuke that enjoyed saying words like 'penis' and 'dick' or whatever kind of perverted word he could get out of his mouth. To Chouji's other side was his boyfriend, the lazy genius Shikamaru. His brown hair was tied into a ponytail that looked like a pineapple on top of his head and his brown eyes were either closed or staring at the clouds.

"So how are things with you two?" Naruto asked, placing his cheek into his open palm as he stared at Chouji and Shikamaru.

"Things are good," Chouji replied, munching on his chips.

"Couldn't be any better," Shikamaru agreed. "How about with you and Sasuke?"

"Okay," Naruto sighed.

"Uh, oh," Chouji paused from eating his chips. "Something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Naruto argued, shaking his head. "Things are okay between us."

"I remember when you used to turn bright red every time someone mentioned your relationship with Sasuke," Shikamaru stated. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

"Does Sasuke want to be your uke?" Sai asked with a smile on his face. He earned a hit on the back of his head, thanks to the blond.

"No, he doesn't," Naruto growled at him, tucking his arm under his chin as he lowered his head onto the desk. "Seriously, there's nothing wrong."

"What about what happened it Itachi-sensei's class today?" the lazy genius asked. "You looked like you were going to pass out the moment you stood up. Not to mention you rarely ever excuse yourself from class."

"Just a cramp," Naruto muttered. "No one has to make a big deal out of it."

"Just a cramp?" Sai asked, still smiling.

"Sai, I am about ready to kill your ass," the blond growled back at him. "I don't care how much you like me, no. Besides, you would be a lot worse then Sasuke."

"So there is something wrong?" Hinata meekly questioned. Naruto didn't answer or make any move. In his mind, he was wishing for their sensei to come through the door and start up his excuses about why he was late. But the door never opened and the blond cursed Kakashi. "Naruto? You can tell us."

He chewed on his bottom lip before sighing. "I'm planning on breaking up with him," he admitted.

"What?!" the four simultaneously asked. "Why?!"

"I'd rather not talk about things like this, guys," the blond replied. "I don't want to bring you into our relationship problems."

"Just tell us, Naruto," Shikamaru groaned. Naruto shook his head.

Before any of them could say anything else, Naruto could have jumped for joy. A man with silver hair wearing a mask to cover the bottom half of his face and an eye patch over his right eye, only showing his left gray eye, walked into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late," Kakashi said. "You see, there was a stray cat roaming the halls and I had to escort it out."

"Liar!" most of the class yelled.

"Anyway, let's start, shall we?" Kakashi asked, pulling out his famous orange book form his pocket.

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"Do you get it now?" Sasuke asked, pulling his hand away from the worksheet below Naruto's arm.

"Kind of," Naruto replied. Both were sitting in the living room, working on homework while Itachi watched the television.

"You're a horrible teacher, Sasuke," Itachi commented. Sasuke just glared at him. "Naruto, do you need real help on your assignment?"

"It's okay, Itachi," Naruto said with a small smile. Inside school, he called Itachi 'sensei', but outside, they dropped the formalities. Sometimes, Naruto would just call him by his name in school and a lot of the students were worried that Itachi would get angered at him. But nothing every happened then a 'Hello, Naruto' back at him. "If I get stuck again and Sasuke can't help me out, I'll let you know." Itachi just nodded before turning his attention back to the TV, ignoring the glare Sasuke was giving him. "So the answer is 'D', right, Sasuke?"

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, looking back at Naruto. "Think you can handle the next problem yourself?"

"I can try," the blond nervously chuckled before working through the problem. "Itachi, I hate word problems." Itachi just chuckled. Sasuke rolled his eyes, choosing to which to his Literature homework. "The answer to number six is 'A', right?" Naruto asked when he was done with the problem.

"Yes," Sasuke replied.

"No," Itachi argued. "There's one more step you need to do, Naruto. One that everyone seems to make, including Sasuke."

"And how do you know? You don't have the worksheet in front of you," Sasuke stated before Itachi lifted up his hand, waving a piece of paper around in the air.

"I have the 'Key'," Itachi blankly replied. Sasuke glared at him for the hundredth time that day. "Try again, Naruto. You're almost right, but you forgot to do a step."

Naruto blinked before looking at his paper. "Oh man! I forgot to reduce!" the blond groaned. Itachi smirked as the teen started trying to figure out how much to reduce the number by. "Is it 'C', Itachi?" Naruto asked, looking over to his math teacher. Itachi nodded, lowering the Key back into his lap.

"Why do you even have that if you're watching TV?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"Because some students actually finished the worksheet before the end of class instead of worrying over Naruto and refusing to work," the older Uchiha said, flipping through the papers he had stacked in his lap. "By the way, Sasuke, Kisame's coming over for a while."

"Again?!" the raven nearly yelled. "Why do you even work at the school when you're the president of an entire company?!"

"I would prefer not telling you my reasons for anything," Itachi sternly said.

"But why do you leave Kisame in charge when you're teaching a bunch of kids?" Naruto asked this time. "I mean, I bet the company keeps you busy enough will all kinds of meetings and things."

"One would think, but it doesn't," Itachi sighed. "I would rather have something to do during the day other then sit in an office, at my desk, and deal with petty matters."

"You do that anyway," both pointed out.

"Well I can't yell at anyone to tell them 'shut up' or embarrass them as much as I please at the company," Itachi added with a smirk. "I believe teaching is more entertaining then the company."

"I highly doubt that," Sasuke scoffed, packing everything into his backpack. "Come on, Naruto. Let's finish up in my room so we don't have to listen to this prick."

Naruto blinked a couple times, looking back and forth between the brothers, but Sasuke didn't notice since he was packing everything into his pack. "If you need help, Naruto, you can just come back down here and I'll help out," Itachi stated. "Whether Kisame is here or not."

"Okay," Naruto replied with a nod of his head before following Sasuke up the stairs.

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	2. talks

talks

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Naruto woke the next morning with Sasuke's arm draped over his waist, holding him tightly to his own body and his face nuzzled into the back of his neck. He turned his head slightly to check if Sasuke was still asleep. He was. Then he looked at the clock. "Oh shit!" he yelled, causing Sasuke to jump awake. "It's ten in the morning!" he exclaimed.

"Relax," a voice from the door spoke before both looked over to see Itachi staring at them blankly. Naruto blushed bright as Sasuke sat up a little bit. All that the blanket covered on them were their waists and upper legs. "School got cancelled today," the older Uchiha stated. "I think the email said it was because of a power outage throughout the school."

"Power outage?" both repeated at the same time.

"A couple of the power lines were stuck by lightning last night during the storm," the brunet continued. "You two didn't notice because you were too deep into your sleep to hear anything. They should be fixed by tomorrow. They already reported it on the news so no one will head to school today. Don't make it a habit to sleep in on a school day, though."

"Whatever," Sasuke scoffed, lying back down as Itachi closed the door. Naruto slipped out of the bed, slipping on a pair of Sasuke's boxers, which he borrows a lot when he's over. "What are you doing?" the raven asked.

"I'm gonna take a shower," Naruto replied, grabbing his clothes from the floor.

Sasuke gave a small hum. "Well I would join you," he stated. "But I'm really tired right now. You may have been able to get to sleep right after our activities, but I couldn't get to sleep until one in the morning."

"What were you doing?" the blond asked in a joking tone. "Masturbating at my hot naked body lying right next to you?" The Uchiha thought for a moment before smirking and nodding his head. "Seriously?" he asked in disbelief.

"No," he replied. "I was just playing along."

Naruto threw his shirt at him. Sasuke chuckled as Naruto yanked the shirt from him. "I'm going to take a shower," he huffed, marching out of the room as Sasuke laughed at the blonde's quick temper. The closest bathroom with a shower wasn't that far from Sasuke's room. It was actually just across the hallway. He locked the door once inside before sighing slightly and dropping his clothes to the side and removing a thick dark blue robe with a red and white fan on the back of it along with a pair of red towers from the small bathroom closet next to the shower.

He turned on the water, waiting patiently for it to turn from cold to hot. As soon as it did, he added a little bit of cool water before pulling on a small knob on the facet. The water stopped pouring from the silver facet before dropping down from the shower head above. Naruto slipped off the boxers and stepped into a shower, letting the pellets of warm water attack his skin as he slid the shower curtain closed. His hair hung down, clinging to his face, as he reached over to grab the bar of soap and the rag. He rubbed together both under the running water before pulling them out of the water's way and continued rubbing both together.

He placed the soap back where it once was when the entire rag was covered with suds. It nearly slipped from his hand a couple times, but he still caught it. He scrubbed from his shoulders to his fingertips, then his neck to his torso, but stopped when he got to his stomach. His hand just stayed there. The blond sighed deeply before continuing his washing. The water washed away the soap bubbles over his skin as he continued to scrub away dirt, dead skin, dried sweat, and anything else that clung to his skin. Once he was done scrubbing his body, he washed the soap off of the rag before hanging it back up.

The blond stayed in the shower a little longer, letting the water continue its assault on him. It only rolled off his skin as quick as it could, forming into large drops as they rolled down his body. He leaned his head against the shower wall, resting his arm on his bent knee He didn't know how long he sat there, but he knew when he got out. The water suddenly burned his skin, causing him to jump out of the shower with a yelp. He growled, glaring towards the shower, before he finally heard the chuckle. Then he blushed and turned his head. Itachi was standing right next to the toilet, his hand on the switch to flush it.

Naruto 'eep'ed, grabbing the towel before wrapping himself up in it. "You'll raise the water bill if you stay in there for hours," Itachi stated. "Then again, I've known you just as long as Sasuke has. Mostly because of Kyuubi. And you two are similar in habits. Neither of you stay in the shower longer then necessary unless you're thinking about something." The blond sighed, knowing it was true. "Naruto? Do you want to talk?"

His blue eyes looked up at the older Uchiha. Itachi was always the person he went to when he wanted to talk to someone about something. He used to talk to Kyuubi all the time, but his brother disappeared years ago. "I would like someone to talk to," he quietly said.

Itachi nodded. "I'll wait in my room if you still want to talk after drying off and getting dressed," he said.

"I think I'll need to wash my clothes before wearing them," he muttered, looking t the pile of dirty clothes that belonged to him. Itachi just bent down and picked them up, walking out the door with them. "Thanks!" he yelled down the hall. He thought he heard a small 'hn' from the older brunet. With a small smile and a sigh, Naruto stood, drying himself off with the two towels he had. Once he believed he was dry enough, he picked up the boxers he borrowed from Sasuke, slipping them on before putting the robe on so he wouldn't drip water everywhere.

He peered into Sasuke's room for a moment to see Sasuke was still asleep. He smiled softly before it faded and his hand went to his stomach once again. He continued on his way down the hall to Itachi's room. Sasuke always told him to stay out of his brother's room because Itachi would take advantage of him, but the brunet never did such a thing when he went into his room multiple times before. Itachi's room was dark. Black walls with a dark red bed that had black pillows and a fair-sized redwood desk against the opposite wall from the bed. On top of it was a black laptop, giving off a small amount of light.

Itachi was sitting at the desk, working on something on the screen. He turned his head when more light entered his room as Naruto stepped in. "One moment, Naruto," he said. "I just need to finish this up. Won't take more then a minute." What he meant was that it would take hours, but he was saving his work and closing out of the program. He always did that when Naruto needed someone to talk to.

"You'll have to work on it a lot longer later on," Naruto pointed out.

"I know," Itachi sighed, clicking the mouse a couple times before all that was shown on the screen was the Uchiha Fan. "Still, you are more important right now." He stood from his chair and walked over to the bed, where Naruto was currently sitting. "Now, what's the matter?" he asked, kneeling in front of the blond.

Naruto sighed, lowering his head as his eyes drooped slightly. "Promise you won't say a word to Sasuke?" he asked before the brunet nodded. Naruto didn't know it, but Sasuke was really in the hallway, eavesdropping on their conversation. Itachi knew he was there, but wasn't saying anything. If Naruto told him that, then Sasuke needed to hear. "Well, I'm planning on breaking up with him, but there are a couple things that will get in the way. One being me thinking about how I'm supposed to tell him. I mean, he has such a temper that if I say the wrong things, he'll blow up."

"Why do you want to break up with him?" Itachi asked. "I thought you were happy with my younger brother."

The blond was hesitant. "He's not the same Sasuke," he finally said. Itachi raised an eyebrow. "I mean, when we first met, we were like rivals. We were always competing with each other, trying to prove who was better. You should remember that. I mean, both you and Kyuubi used to just sit back and watch us fight each other. Then he admits he likes me and we start dating. He used to act like a hopeless romantic all the time. That was the Sasuke I fell in love with."

"And Sasuke isn't the same one?" Itachi asked, moving to Naruto's side as the blond shook his head.

"No," he replied. "Sasuke isn't a hopeless romantic anymore. He doesn't do anything romantic anymore! We used to actually go out and watch movies or buy an ice cream cone or whatever! He used to actually show he cared. Now all he thinks about is sex! I actually asked him one day 'what would you do if you found me laying on your couch with no clothes on and asleep?' He said he would just have his way with me, even though I would asleep. See? All he thinks about is sex! He doesn't care anymore!"

"Naruto, you know he cares," Itachi calmly said as the blond started to sob.

"He sure as hell doesn't show it!" Naruto said through his tears. "I mean it. We never go out or anything. He never asks me out to go with him anymore. Like that fair that was in last month. He never asked me if I wanted to go. And he knows how much I love fairs. He just brought me here and fucked me! It's all he thinks about now. Nothing else crosses his mind. And every time I talk to another guy, he gets all paranoid and starts calling me his. It's like I'm nothing but property to him." He pulled his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth as his arms wrapped around his legs and his head lowered into them.

Itachi wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulders, rubbing the blonde's shoulder slightly. Then curiosity got the best of him. "You said two things were stopping you from breaking up with him," he pointed out. "One was his reaction. But what's the second?"

Naruto inhaled deeply, lifting up his head enough to show his eyes. "I'm three weeks pregnant with his baby," he admitted. Itachi's eyes went wide. In the hall, Sasuke gasped silently. "That's why I had to excuse myself from class yesterday. I had a really bad cramp from it. I don't know what I'm going to do with it if I do break up with him. I don't even know what there is I can do!" His head lowered into his arms again as he continued to sob.

With a small sigh and a curse to his idiotic brother, Itachi pulled the sobbing blond to his chest, letting Naruto's tears stain his shirt. He didn't say anything, only held the blond to comfort him, rubbing soothing circles on Naruto's back.

Sasuke was leaning against the wall, thinking about what he heard. He didn't even realize how Naruto felt about their relationship anymore. He always thought things were perfectly fine and normal. And the words he just heard proved him wrong.

Naruto sniffled a couple times before pulling away from the older Uchiha. "Sorry," he choked out, wiping his face. "I got your shirt wet."

"It's alright, Naruto-kun," Itachi assured. "I got plenty more."

"I must seem like a really big baby myself, right now," he weakly joked with a single chuckle.

"No, you don't," the brunet said, brushing some of Naruto's still wet and drooping hair behind his ear. "It's alright to cry over something like that. You feel like you're under a lot of stress right now. Even the emotionless sometimes break down and start to cry."

"I've never seen you cry," Naruto pointed out. "And I've known you since I was eleven."

Itachi just smirked. "How about you go clean yourself up a bit," he suggested. "I'm sure Sasuke would start demanding to know why you were crying if he sees these tear stains." The blond nodded, standing up with a small hic. "You can use the connection bathroom to wash your face," Itachi said before the blond walked through the door in the opposite wall from the window. "Sasuke, I know you're out there," he spoke when he heard the sink running. Sasuke stepped into the doorway. "You know you could never hide from me, Sasuke," he sighed. The younger Uchiha stayed silent. "Unless you want to lose your lover and carrier of your child, I suggest you change back into the person Naruto loved."

"Don't talk to me like I don't know that!" Sasuke nearly snapped.

"Just a warning."

"What I don't understand is why he told you about the kid and not me. I'm his boyfriend!"

"True," Itachi agreed with a nod of his head. "But Naruto is also afraid of you. If you were actually paying attention, you would have heard him say that he doesn't have any idea how to tell you anything since you would snap if he says the wrong thing."

"I've never struck him before," Sasuke scoffed. "He doesn't have a reason to be scared of me."

"You may have not hit him, but you can still do something to hurt him," Itachi pointed out with a sigh. "Just think about what you heard and of a way to fix it." Sasuke growled at him before snapping around and running back to his room. Barely a minute later, Naruto came back into the bedroom, rubbing his face with the robe sleeve. "Feel a little better?" he asked.

"A little bit," Naruto replied. "Thanks, Itachi."

"Anytime," the brunet said with a small smile and a nod of his head. "Remember what I told you before: If you ever need to talk about anything, I'll listen." Naruto nodded, a small smile on his lips as well, before he sat back down on the bed by Itachi. "Maybe you should give Sasuke another chance," he said. "At least tell him how you're feeling right now. He might change if it means to make you happy."

"'Might' is the keyword," Naruto pointed out.

"Still," Itachi sighed. "At least one more chance. If he messes up, then you can do whatever you want and I'll make sure he can't do a thing about it."

Naruto laughed a little bit, nodding his head, before pecking Itachi on the cheek. He did laugh when he saw the look of surprise on Itachi's face. "Thanks for listening, Itachi," he said. "I really needed someone to talk to." Itachi didn't say anything as Naruto jumped to his feet and left the room with a small smile towards the older brunet.

Itachi just sat there, blinking his red eyes a couple times, before placing a hand on his cheek. He was glad that he could comfort Naruto, but deep down, he hoped his brother would fail. He's had a small crush on the blond since he first saw him. From his bright blue eyes to his smiles to his playful but short-tempered attitude. Before he left, Kyuubi knew how Itachi felt for his younger brother. He even said when he left that he hoped Itachi would look after Naruto.

He sighed slightly before rising to his feet and walking over to his computer to finish the work he was doing before Naruto came in. He was willing to do anything to distract him. He knew Naruto could never develop feelings for him. Then his fingers ran down his cheek and he smirked. Maybe the blond could. Just maybe.

Once Naruto was back in Sasuke's room, his smile turned fake, but was trying to make it look convincing. Sasuke was awake, playing a game on his computer, before pausing it and looking towards the blond. "Where have you been?" he asked, acting like he never heard the words exchanged between his brother and boyfriend. "I checked all over the house and didn't find you anywhere."

"I was asking Itachi if I could borrow the key to see if I got the answers right on my homework," Naruto replied, thinking of a quick excuse. "I missed a few."

Naruto just walked over to the bed and laid down on the thick comforter. "Hey, Naruto," he called as he clicked on an icon on his desktop, opening up the internet on his computer. The blond looked at him curiously. "There's a new movie you might like," he said. "It's playing in theaters now. Want to go see it?" Naruto blinked in astonishment. "We don't have to if you don't want to. We can see anything you want."

The blond just couldn't believe it. Sasuke actually asked him out. For the first time since their first month of dating. And they had been going out for six months! "Sure," Naruto replied with a nod of his head.

In his room, Itachi was still hoping Sasuke would fail so he could have Naruto to himself.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Still planning to break up with him?" Shikamaru asked him the next morning before school started. Sasuke was dragged away by Neji to the other side of the front area, out of ear-shot range.

Naruto gave a small shrug. "I don't know," he replied. "I mean, he's changing a little bit from his usual self."

"For the better of things or for the worst?" Kiba asked from his spot on a thick tree branch above them.

"For the better, I have to say," the blond said with a small smile, but it soon faded. "But who knows how long it'll last."

"I give it a week," Gaara muttered before he was tackled from behind. "What the?!"

"Hi, Gaara!" a hyper blond yelled out. His hair wasn't nearly as bright as Naruto's, it was more of a faded blond color, with a ponytail at the top of his head and his long bangs covering one of his eyes.

"What are you doing here, Deidara?" Naruto asked as the red-head attempted to shove the blond off of him. Lee pulled Deidara off of Gaara before wrapping his arms protectively around the teen's shoulders, glaring towards the older man.

"Huh? Oh! I was supposed to give Itachi something, un. I completely forgot about it as soon as I saw Gaara, un!" Naruto sighed slightly. Everyone knew Deidara had an uncontrollable lust towards Gaara and he showed it often. He only behaved when his lover, Tobi, was around because Tobi was scary when he was mad, even though he ran around all the time, claiming he was a 'good boy'. "Any idea where Itachi is? I doubt he's in his classroom, un."

"No clue," Naruto shrugged. "If he's not there right now, you can try again when first period starts up. He never misses a day unless it's really important."

"Okay then!" Deidara chirped before running off.

"Guy has way too much energy and needs to stop obsessing over Gaara," Kiba commented. "Or Lee might just drink sake to get rid of him."

"Kami forbid," everyone but Lee said at the same time. Lee just blinked confusingly.

"So, Naruto, subject back to you," Shikamaru sighed. "What did make you want to break up with Sasuke? And what is he doing now that makes you unsure if you want to or not?"

"Well," he began, but was cut off from an arm around his neck.

"Hey, dobe," Sasuke spoke up, kissing Naruto on the top of his head.

"What were you and Neji talking about?" the blond asked, tilting his head back to stare at his boyfriend.

"Nothing much," the raven replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "But what is Deidara doing here other then trying to rape Gaara?" The red-head glared at him, but all Sasuke did was smirk. "Sorry. I meant 'molest'."

"He said he had something to give to Itachi," Naruto said, getting to his feet with Sasuke's help. "He came over as soon as he saw Gaara."

"Why does he like Gaara so much?" Kiba asked, tilting his head to the side. Shino, who was leaning against the tree Kiba was in, turned his head slightly.

"I think it's because Gaara reminds him of Sasori," Sasuke stated. "You guys never met him since he died a few years ago. But anyway, he and Deidara were lovers, and Deidara ended up pregnant from that. But then Sasori got in a gang fight and died. Deidara went into such a depression that he lost the kid he was carrying. He didn't eat and rarely slept. It was bound to happen."

"So I take it that Sasori was a pale red-head, right?" the lazy genius asked.

"Yes, only not as pale as Gaara," the blond replied this time. "And he didn't talk as often. But Sasori was pretty cool once you got used to him. Though his impatience took forever to get used to."

"'I hate waiting'," Sasuke mimicked one of Sasori's lines. "He goes walking off all the time, even without Deidara. But he knows that Deidara would catch up to him in a split second, so he didn't bother waiting for him." They heard the bell ring before the others stood up. "Hey, where's Chouji?" Everyone gave him a blank look. "Why did I bother asking?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Second period was Chemistry with Orochimaru for Naruto, but he was the only one in their gang in that class with him. Sasuke had Orochimaru for Chemistry the fourth hour, two hours after the blond. Kabuto was leaning against the counter at the back of the class, watching everyone with his dark eyes that peered through his glasses. His gray hair was tied into a low ponytail behind his neck. Orochimaru was at the front of the class, sitting at his desk as everyone checked the Chemistry homework he gave them a couple days ago. He put the answers on the board.

A lot of people were afraid of Orochimaru for many reasons. One, he was as pale as a sheet, too pale for it to be healthy, most would say. Two, his golden eyes were like a snake's and he had purple eye shadow from the top of them to his nose. His black hair was long and straight, which they found a little out of the ordinary since everyone with long hair put their hair into a ponytail or a bun of some sort. Third, his strange obsession with snakes. He would even bring a few in every now and then and let them roam the room. The final thing that scared everyone about Orochimaru was the thing he called his tongue. No one knew how long it was, but they've seen it go to a full meter before.

Most thought he was only able to get a job here because the Principal/Head Nurse (she claimed that being a principal was too boring and more kids visited the nurse's office then the principal's office anyway) was an old friend of his. But they soon found out that Principal Tsunade didn't like Orochimaru that much. Then they started believing he bribed her or something. Neither confirmed either suspicion. Naruto knew it was because the three really were old friends since they were teens, but they could barely stand each other. He figured Tsunade let Orochimaru work here since it would be like old times for them and Jiraiya, the third member of their little group.

"Hey, Orochimaru!" someone yelled before the door opened and a bang as soon as the knob hit the wall. A large-chested woman with faded blonde hair tied into pig-tails and hazel eyes that had a small purple diamond above them in the middle of her forehead.

"Tsunade-hime," Orochimaru greeted. He mostly called her that to get on her nerves. "You know that's going to cost quite a bit to repair that hole you created in the wall."

"Don't be smart with me!" Tsunade yelled.

"I'm not, I'm just stating fact," the pale man defended. "Now what business do you wish to discuss?"

"Out here now," she growled. Orochimaru looked over to Kabuto, who nodded before walking up to the front. As Kabuto went to the front of the room, Orochimaru stood from his seat and went over to the blonde principal. She glared at his heavily, but all he did was smirk about whatever she was going to yell at him about.

As soon as the door slammed close, Naruto looked over to Kabuto. No one talked as long as Orochimaru or Kabuto were in the room. When they said 'quiet', they meant 'shut up or we'll feed you to the snakes'. Naruto was the only one that could ever get away with talking while one of them was out of the room and left only one in there with the rest of the classroom to keep order. "What did he do this time, Kabuto-sempai?" Naruto asked.

Everyone were either mentally thanking Naruto for asking so their curiosity would be satisfied or they were cursing the fact that Naruto was their favorite and could get away with almost everything he did. He could walk into the room with no clothes on and all Orochimaru would do would be pull out a camera and take pictures. Kabuto would just throw the fire blanket on top of him then take it back before he would leave. Everyone knew that to be a fact because Orochimaru said it. Naruto got very uncomfortable that day and Sasuke grew even more protective. Both knew Orochimaru was just joking anyway.

"I think it has something to do with the snake that he brought it a few days ago," Kabuto replied. "It got out of the class sixth period that day and we couldn't find it. We figured it went outside. I guess Tsunade just found it. Or it found a student and bit them."

"You talking about Manda?" the blond asked, tilting his head to the side. "Wouldn't his bite kill someone?"

"Only if he held on for more then a few seconds," Kabuto said with a small shrug. "But she most likely just found him."

"I don't care!" everyone heard Tsunade scream in the hallway. "If I find another one of your snakes in my office, I'll cut its head off and then I'll come after you with loaded guns!"

"Found him," Naruto and Kabuto simultaneously sighed.

Orochimaru came back into the classroom with a smirk, slowly shaking his head as he stroked the snake he now had draped on his shoulders. "How did she get him here if she's afraid of him?" Kabuto asked as Orochimaru sat back down in his seat. The large thick brown snake slithered off of him and moved towards the table where Naruto sat with another student. Unlike most of the class, Naruto was so used to the snake that it could go anywhere near him and all he'll do is pet it on the head. The other student, though, went tense and was praying under his breath for the snake not to bite him. Manda just circled around Naruto's chair and laid there as still as he could be.

"She had Jiraiya carry him," Orochimaru replied with a small chuckle. "I must say, it was amusing watching him trying to keep Manda from eating his toad." Naruto just shook his head as he finished checking his homework. Manda didn't move the entire period, so everyone thought he was asleep. He only moved when a student passed by him and that was when he gave warning hisses. Everyone but Naruto jumped out of their skin when he did that. Kabuto held back laughs through his coughs when a student jumped away from Naruto's seat and bumped into the table next to him. Orochimaru didn't bother holding back his chuckles.

At the end of the period, when Naruto was one of the last few in the classroom, Orochimaru called to him. "Naruto, stay after for a moment, would you?" The blond nodded, zipping his backpack close. When the final student left, Naruto went up to the desk and stood there silently, waiting for Orochimaru to speak first. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked. "You've been acting very strange the past few days."

"I'm fine," Naruto replied.

"Are you sure?" the pale man continued to ask. Naruto nodded. "Alright then, but I would like you to visit Tsunade sometime this week in the Nurse's Office."

"Why? I'm fine."

"You say you are, Naruto, but I know better then to believe it when someone says their fine when they're really not," Orochimaru stated, looking at Kabuto from the corner of his eyes. Kabuto just turned his head a random direction to act like he was looking around the room for something. "Even if it's nothing, I'm sure all of your teachers, me included, would feel much better about your health. You're one of the best students in this school and if there was something wrong with you, it would worry everyone."

"I understand," Naruto said as he lowered his head.

"Alright. Just promise me you'll visit Tsunade in the Nurse's Office." Naruto nodded. "Good. Do you need a pass to your next class?"

"No, I have Gai-sensei and Asuma-sensei in Gym next period," the blond replied. "Both are pretty understanding."

When Orochimaru nodded, Naruto grabbed his bag and left the room with a smile and a wave. "Kabuto," he spoke, looking to the younger man behind him. "If he does go to Tsunade and she says there is something wrong with him, I would expect you to know as well. After all, I doubt he'll tell me himself and I would like to know if anything was wrong with him."

"Understood," Kabuto said with a nod of his head.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

There were six people in his gym class that he knew. Everyone else were like strangers to Naruto. Lee, of course, was one of them. And Gai-sensei was always praising him about one thing or another. A lot wondered if Gai and Lee were long-lost father and son since they looked like clones of each other and acted the same. Asuma, barely anyone could understand why he wanted to be a gym teacher. He always smoked and rarely did anything, compared to Gai. But they didn't argue when they saw how fast and strong he was.

Shikamaru, though lazy, was another person who was in the class as well. No one understood why he signed up for gym since all he did was lay down and watch the clouds or sleep. Neji was the third person he knew, standing as far away from Lee as he could. Chouji was the fourth, sitting next to Shikamaru as he munched on his bag of chips. No one ever tried to take away his chips since he usually went ballistic. He would go insane if someone tried to take one of his chips without his permission or the last chip in the bag. He went running around the Cafeteria stealing everyone's bags of chips before they had a chance to eat the final piece.

Not far from them was one of Gaara's siblings, Kankuro. He was always dressed in jeans and a baggy black hoodie that made it look like he had cat ears on his head. Only a lucky few were able to see his brown hair. He never took the hood off, even if a teacher threatened him with detention if he didn't. A lot of people never really understood the Sabaku family. One, there was the eldest sibling Temari, a blond girl that was already in her senior year. She always had her hair up into four spiky ponytails behind her head and was always carrying around a fan to hit people with, namely Kankuro.

Kankuro, on the other hand, went walking around with small puppets he made himself. He got bored often and just pulled them out of nowhere and made them fight each other or used them to scare other students when he dropped the puppets in front of their faces. That generally earned the fan hit from Temari. The one thing that confused most people about Kankuro was the marks he always put on his face. Most thought he just used face-paint, but it never cracked or anything, so they started believing it was actual make-up he stole from his sister.

Gaara was the strangest case of all. Their mother died when she gave birth to him and a lot thought he was seriously messed up in the head. If someone had a small cut, he was there, saying he smelt blood. Kankuro and Temari usually dragged him away. He was the 'blood and gore lover' of the siblings, and was sometimes the cause of it when he got really excited. He rarely went into his 'rage episodes' as soon as he started dating Lee. Barely anyone could tell if the three were related or not since they didn't look alike at all, for the exception of Gaara and Temari's eye color.

The final person Naruto knew well in Gym class was a petite boy that everyone mistook for a girl when they first saw him. He always had his long brown hair tied into a bun at the top of his head, leaving only his bangs to frame his peaceful face. A lot of the students and staff believe that even if Haku has a smile on his face, what he was really feeling could be figured out from his brown eyes. He was what everyone called 'A Teacher's Pet' since one of the teachers, who Naruto was thankful he didn't have this year, named Zabuza always let Haku get away with anything and everything.

They were outside on the track today, and Lee was running around like a maniac on crack, trying to do fifty laps before the end of the period. And Gai encouraged him. As far as anyone knew, Gai was the reason as to why Lee is the way he is. Shikamaru plain flat refused to run and sat on the bleachers, staring at the clouds. Chouji had a serious stomachache and was sitting close to the lazy brunet. Naruto did three laps and then he joined them. Kankuro did so after the first lap, but Haku did all four before he joined them. Neji did four laps as well, keeping pace with Haku, and went over to the bleachers when he was done, but Lee was still running around.

"Why is he so determined?" Haku asked, his cheek on his opened palm and his eyes trying to follow the speeding brunet.

"Because of Gai," Neji replied. "He encourages Lee to do all sorts of crap. And I think Lee tries to do the same with Gaara."

"Gaara's not physically fit to do much," Kankuro pointed out. "He's a bit weak. That's why he doesn't do very much."

"And why Temari keeps trying to shove things down his throat?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And she has terrible cooking," Kankuro laughed out. "Man, do I feel sorry for my baby brother!"

"You could try to help him out, you know," Naruto stated, turning his head to look away from the running Lee to the others. "It's not like he'll bite."

"He bit me when he was five years old," the brunet stated. "Multiple times."

"That was when he was five, wasn't it?" Chouji asked.

"He bit me where I would prefer not to be bit!" Everyone blinked with wide eyes. "Not there!" Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

Naruto chuckled before a cramp washed through his abdomen. He bent over, clutching his stomach. He took gasp of air to help the pain settle and disappear, but it didn't stop everyone from noticing. "Naruto?" Haku called softly, gently rubbing small circles on the blonde's back. "Naruto? Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," he gasped out. "I don't think I'm very well fit right now either."

"Alright, Naruto!" Neji finally snapped. "Spill! What is wrong with you? Two days ago, I found you in the bathroom just like this, looking like you were about to die from something! Sasuke's worried as hell! And I'm sure the rest of us are, too!"

"It's nothing," Naruto said with a final sigh. The pain subsided for now.

"I find that really hard to believe," Shikamaru stated. "You excused yourself from Itachi's class a couple days ago, which is something you never do. You rarely excuse yourself from any class. And when you do, it's for a good reason. Just tell us, Naruto." Naruto shook his head.

"Naruto, just tell us," Haku quietly said, moving his hand to Naruto's shoulder. "Please? We've never seen you like this and we're worried."

"It's really nothing," he said. "Just a few bad cramps, that's all."

"Cramps aren't caused by 'nothing', Naruto," Kankuro pointed out. "Ask Chouji. He knows that better then anyone." That earned an empty bag of chips crumpled into a ball thrown at his head.

Naruto sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you, but don't say a word to anyone else," he caved in. They nodded. "I'm pregnant." Their eyes went wide.

"How far?" Haku was the first to break the silence.

"Three weeks," the blond replied. "Almost four."

"Sasuke's right?" Neji asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "No, I'm carrying Jiraiya's kid," he sarcastically said. "Of course it's Sasuke's!"

"You know, you never told us why you wanted to break up with Sasuke," Shikamaru pointed out. "Is it because you don't know what he'll think of the kid?" Naruto shook his head. "Then why?"

"I'll tell you guys later," he replied before Asuma yelled out it was time to head back into the locker rooms and change.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-


	3. Break Up

Break Up

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto, still not knowing that Sasuke eavesdropped on his conversation with Itachi a few months back, eventually told Sasuke about the baby. And Sasuke, keeping up his role as the 'clueless boyfriend who had no idea he knocked his lover up', acted extremely surprised. Naruto only told him because he was starting to think that Sasuke had changed back to the hopeless romantic he was when they first started dating. Of course, every good thing eventually went downhill, and they were no exception. Sasuke started to change back into the sex-driven boyfriend that Naruto wanted to break up with after the second month.

Now, Naruto was three, almost four, months pregnant and curled up into a fetal position on his bed, wearing only a pair of pants. A letter that had been opened and closed multiple times laid right next to him.

'**Naruto,' **it read.

'**Hey, sorry I haven't been writing to you in a while, but I just finally managed to settle down in a place I can actually afford. Shu-kun actually paid half of it, but only because he wouldn't let me pay for all of it. Said it would be too hard on my wallet. **

'**So how are things for you? Everything okay between you and Sasuke or are you two still trying to rip each other's throats out? (LOL) And what about the rest of the gang? Everyone still able to stand on their own two feet?**

'**Look, Naruto. I'm sorry for leaving like I did, but I was going through a rough time when I did and I didn't want to get you involved with it. I left because I felt like I needed to and I just wanted to be left alone. I'm sorry, I really am. If there was no one left to take care of you, you know I never would have left like that. But you had Iruka looking after you, and Kakashi, if he would stop looking at Iruka's ass long enough. But you did have someone to look after you. If you didn't, I would have stayed. I'm not saying that looking after you was a problem or anything, but like I said: I couldn't and wouldn't get you involved with anything going on with me.**

'**If you still live in the apartment building, write back to me. Then we can start planning a visit and I'll show you why I left. Deal?**

'**Love ya, little brother.**

'**Kyuubi.'**

For the first time in the past four or five years, Kyuubi finally wrote to him. He already wrote back last week, as soon as he got the letter and after he read it for the first time. Now he was just waiting for a reply. He didn't expect it to arrive for another day or two, but still. He was worried that Kyuubi never got his letter. Or maybe his older brother just didn't want to write back. A lot of doubtful thoughts were running through his mind.

With a sigh, he got up from his spot on the bed and slipped on a large baggy white shirt with an orange spiral on the back. He checked every day since he sent his reply for another letter. He walked out his door before running down the steps.

"Hello, Naruto," an elderly woman at the desk in the front greeted. "You got a letter." Naruto's eye brightened up as the woman held out a small white envelope.

"Thank you," Naruto said, taking the letter before looking in the corner to see if it was from his brother. He smiled when he saw it was. He bowed respectfully to the elder woman, who nodded back at him, before he ran back to his apartment room. He jumped back onto his bed before ripping the envelope open. When he pulled out the letter and unfolded it, a picture fell out. Blinking a couple times, Naruto reached down and picked it up. His eyes went wide a little when he saw the image.

In the picture was a red-head with the same whisker marks Naruto had, only thicker and a little darker, with golden eyes. He looked though he was laughing about something. Next to him was another male a year older then him with sand blond hair and mischievous dark gold eyes. He was holding onto a small child that was staring at something curiously with wide eyes as he tried to reach out and grab the camera that took the picture. The child had sand blond hair streaked with red and the same golden eyes as Kyuubi. He didn't inherit the whisker birthmarks, though.

Placing the picture on his bedside table, Naruto turned his attention to the letter in his hand.

'**Hey, Naruto!' **it read.

'**Glad my last letter got a hold of you. I was worried you moved and would never get it.**

'**Sorry to hear things aren't going so well between you and Sasuke. Maybe you should just talk with him about his attitude or something. Never mind, Itachi most likely already did that. So Shikamaru and Chouji are dating now? Answer me honestly, why does that not surprise me? I mean, seriously, the two are always hanging out with each other. I would have been surprised if they both got girlfriends. Same with Shino and Kiba. Though how Mr. Calm-And-Quiet can deal with Mr. Hyper-As-Hell, I will never know. Though I will admit, Gaara and Lee dating surprised me. Made Shukaku read over your letter a bunch of times before he finally got it.**

'**By the way, even if you do break up with Sasuke, what do you plan on doing with the kid? I mean, you said you were about four months, so too late for an abortion. Way too late for it.**

'**Oh, I bet you're pretty curious about the picture I sent you. Basically, it is showing why I left. Don't make the same mistake I did and run off pregnant, Naruto. At least I had Shu-kun with me. If you break up with Sasuke, that leaves you with no one. Sorry to point that out, but it's the truth. Anyway, the little one is Shintaro. Congrats, bro. You're an uncle! When I visit you, I'll bring him along so you two can actually meet. Sound good?**

'**So when's a good day for you? I can come over at anytime. I'm mostly 'stay at home mom' and Shukaku runs around working and earning the money. I want run around and act like an idiot, but Shintaro needs me at home. And when I visit, I might drag Shukaku with me. Then you can invite Gaara and Lee and he'll give Lee the normal threats of "You better take care of Gaara or I'll slit your throat and feed you to the dogs". **

'**Anyway, tell the others I said 'hi', especially Itachi. You know he has a crush on you, right?' **Naruto blinked a couple times. No, he did not know that.** 'You know what? I think I'll change my mind about something I said. If you do run off pregnant, you'll have someone with you if you can convince him.' **The blond gave a small annoyed growl.

'**Write back to me, Naruto. Maybe Shukaku, Shintaro, and I can visit you this weekend if that's okay with you. Any day is fine with me. Just tell me when and I'll be over.**

'**Kyuubi**

'**P.S. Shukaku says "hi".'**

Naruto lowered the letter into his lap, looking around the room for a spare sheet of paper and a pen or pencil. Then he dug through his bag, letting out a triumphant cry when he found his stack of clean paper. Then he dug into one of the smaller pockets and pulled out a pen and went to the desk.

'Hi, Kyuu,' he wrote.

'I was a little worried you wouldn't write back soon. Or that my letter didn't reach you. Wow, we're both paranoid.

'It's okay that Sasuke and I aren't working out. Something told me that Sasuke and I really weren't capable of keeping a relationship. We think and act too differently. I'll give Lee a little warning about Shukaku's normal death threats speech. Lee will mostly being saying that if he does anything to hurt Gaara, then he'll do this and that. You know how he is. And I don't really get how Shino can deal with Kiba either.

'I know it's too late for an abortion, and I still haven't decided what I was going to do with it. I might end up having a miscarriage, anyway.

'So you left because Shukaku got you pregnant? Kyuubi, you could have stayed. No one would have said anything. No one's saying anything about my pregnancy, but then again, I only told Itachi, Shikamaru, Neji, Haku, Kankuro (who mostly told Gaara and Temari),Chouji, and Sasuke (of course). Not many know, but no one's saying anything. And you know I wouldn't say anything about it. I would have jumped to the thought of a kid running around. Especially if it's yours since it will most likely have your energy level. I think he's really cute. Has your eyes.

'Think you could make it in Saturday or Sunday? I most likely will need someone to talk to then. I plan on breaking up with Sasuke on Friday so he'll have the weekend to cool off from it. Seriously, I don't want to break up with him in the middle of the week and see him the next day in school. It would be too awkward and he would get so upset at me, most likely corner me after school and start asking why I broke up with him.

'Tell Shukaku I said "hi" back, okay?

'Love ya, Kyuu.

'Naruto.'

Once he placed the pen down, he opened up a drawer and pulled out an envelope, writing down Kyuubi's address and his own in the top left corner. Then he folded the letter and stuffed it into the envelope, running out the door as he sealed it. Then he slipped the envelope into the outbox, nodding towards the elder woman at the desk, before running back to his apartment.

Then he climbed back onto his bed, laying his head on the pillow, before picking up the picture of his brother, Shukaku, and their child. He jumped when the phone started ringing. "Hello?" he spoke into the device when he picked it up.

"Naruto?" someone replied through the line.

"Who's this?" the blond asked.

"Rain, rain, go away, bug my brother another day," the person on the phone sung before laughing.

"Kyuubi?!"

"Hey, I remembered the number!" Kyuubi victoriously cheered. There was a high-pitched laughter in the background along with the sound of clapping. "One second, Naruto." Then his voice became quiet and low. "Shintaro, what have I said? No noises when I'm on the phone."

"That just proves he's as noisy as you," Naruto said with a small smile.

"Ha, ha. Very funny. Not! Hey, did you get my letter?"

"Yeah, just put mine in the outbox."

"Well there went my next question," Kyuubi muttered.

"Which would be?" Naruto urged.

"If you talked with your boyfriend or not," his brother replied. "Or if anyone has. I bet Itachi has if he's noticed anything. How are the others, anyway?"

"They're great!" the blond chirped. "Get this, not only is Itachi the president of Sharingan Incorporated, but he's also my Math teacher in high school."

"You're kidding. Itachi?"

"I'm not a liar, Kyuubi. You know that. I don't lie unless I have a reason. But yeah, he's one of my teachers, and so is Orochimaru."

"He's still teaching Chemistry? He was one of my teachers. He hasn't been trying to molest you, has he?"

Naruto snorted. "I may be his favorite student, but he doesn't molest me. He has Kabuto for that and he loves to annoy Sasuke by trying to molest him. Oh, I also got Kakashi for my Literature class."

Now it was Kyuubi's turn to snort. "He is not meant to be a teacher," he commented. "He's always running late. Luckily, he was my study hall teacher. No one cared if he was late then. Is he still reading that book of his?"

"Yeah, but now it's the 'Yaoi Addition'. Jiraiya's best, so far. Mostly because of all the woman buying it."

"Crazy women," Kyuubi muttered. "If they want to see some gay sex, they should go into the boys' bathroom when a couple of them go in and aren't seen for more then five minutes."

"How many times has that happened to you?" Naruto sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Only twice," his brother innocently replied. "After that, we made sure to lock the door. So, baby brother. Want to actually talk about what's going on between you and Sasuke?"

"Can we talk when you come over?" the blond whined.

"Sure, when would that be?"

"Saturday or Sunday. Whichever you prefer."

"I'll make it Saturday so I can spend Sunday with you, too. Okay?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, nodding his head. "Yeah, sounds good."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

He hadn't received a letter reply from Kyuubi, but then again, he wasn't expecting to until next week. But he knew he would see his brother and nephew during the weekend, so he didn't get depressed about it. But it was Friday right now. Good news: Kyuubi would come over tomorrow with Shintaro. Bad news: he wasn't sure how to avoid Sasuke as soon as he said he wanted to break up. He decided to wait until after school to break up with him.

In all his classes, everyone noticed how different he was behaving. Orochimaru kept him after, asking if anything was wrong, but Naruto just said he was thinking about some things and the Chemistry teacher nodded. Itachi was another that noticed right away that something was wrong with Naruto. He pretty much avoided talking to Sasuke, no matter what the raven did to try and get his attention. And whenever Sasuke tried to reach out to him, he just moved away a little bit. Itachi figured that Naruto finally decided to break up with Sasuke. Naruto only talked when he was spoken to. The rest of the time, he was silent and staring off into space.

At the end of school, when Sasuke turned the direction to the parking lot, where he usually met up with Itachi after school for a ride home, he noticed Naruto turned the other way. "Naruto," he called, grabbing the blond by the arm. "Naruto, what's wrong? You've been avoiding me all day and you've been quieter then usual. Is there something wrong?"

Naruto gave a small sigh. "We need to talk, Sasuke," he said in a low voice. Sasuke really did not like those words.

"About what?" Sasuke asked in an uneasy way.

The blond leaned against the brick wall, hand on his stomach with his eyes looking around, making sure no one was eavesdropping. Itachi was leaning against the black BMW in the parking lot, his eyes on them like he knew what was about to happen. He most likely did. With a sigh, Naruto looked back at Sasuke. "I really hate having to do this, Sasuke," he finally spoke. "But I really can't handle much more of this."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, though he had a feeling that he knew what this was all about. "Naruto, have I done something wrong?"

"Yes and no," Naruto said with a sniffled inhale. "I really do hate this, Sasuke. I don't know what I'm going to do after this. But I really have had enough."

"Just tell me what's wrong and I'll fix it!" Sasuke tried not to snap.

"You can't fix it!" Naruto yelled back. "You can't fix it because it is you! You act like I'm nothing but a item to you and I hate it! I'm nothing but your sex toy! That's all you think of me as! I'm not a person to you! I'm just your goddamn toy!"

"You know I don't think of you that way!" Sasuke snapped.

"You sure as hell act like you do!" Naruto shouted, bringing some attention to them. "You don't think of me as your boyfriend! You only see me as your toy! I'm not a piece of property you can have your way with, Sasuke! I'm not something you can claim and expect to act the way you want me to act! I'm not your goddamn pet! I'm not you fucking slave! I'm tired of this, Sasuke!" He took a few ragged breaths to calm himself, squeezing his eyes shut to make sure the tears didn't spill from his eyes. He pulled away when he felt hands on his shoulders.

"Naruto, we can make this work out," Sasuke said in a calm but fierce tone.

"No we can't!" Naruto tried not to yell. "You're not the same person I fell in love with. I don't want to be with you anymore, Sasuke. It's over. I can't handle this anymore. I just can't, Sasuke."

Before Sasuke could say anything, Naruto snapped around and ran off. Sasuke gritted his teeth together before stomping over to his older brother. "You brought it on yourself," Itachi said as Sasuke climbed into the car, slamming the door shut. "Now I'm curious about what Naruto's going to do with the child."

"Shut the fuck up, Itachi," Sasuke growled out through clenched teeth. "I'm not in the mood to listen to your bullshit."

"Language, dear little brother," Itachi taunted, shifting the gears of the car. "You know it was bound to happen. You heard what he told me when we spoke in my room. He was planning to do this, but when you started to act like the person he loved, he changed his mind. Then you change back and this happens. You know, you should be a little more grateful to me."

"Why?" Sasuke scoffed, staring out the window before realizing what street they were on. "Hey!"

"Because I was the one who talked him into giving you another chance," Itachi said, glaring towards his younger brother. "You should be more grateful because despite how much I care for him, I'm letting you have him."

"Why would you care for him? You hate everyone!"

"I made a promise to Kyuubi to look after Naruto," Itachi bluntly replied. "Don't ask anymore. He's right there." Sasuke looked forward, seeing Naruto leaning against a wall, shoulder shaking like he was crying. As they approached, Itachi slowed down the car, but another stopped next to the blond. Naruto looked up with a confused stare at the red Mustang before a small smile met his lips and he went to the car, leaning into the open window. "Looks like Kyuubi's here for a visit," Itachi noted. "He can deal with Naruto, then. As for you, Sasuke, I'll be dealing with you."

"And what the hell are you going to do?" Sasuke challenged, glaring towards the older Uchiha. Itachi just glared back as he drove into a parking lot and turned around.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_With Naruto_

Naruto finally stopped running, leaning against the stone wall to catch his breath. His head dropped as tears spilled from his eyes. His hand clutched at his stomach tightly as he choked back a scream. He heard a familiar purring of a car that he knew to be Itachi's coming closer, but a red Mustang stopped next to him first. He stared at the car with a confused look as the window rolled down. "Hey," a familiar red-head in the car called out. Naruto smiled at the sight of his brother. "Thought I would come early. Get in."

Steadily, he pushed himself away from the wall, seeing the black BMW out of the corner of his eye. Sasuke and Itachi were both glaring at each other. Instead of climbing into the car, he leaned in through the window. "What made you come early?" he asked as the BMW turned around and drove away.

"Your letter," Kyuubi replied, reaching over and pulling on the door latch. "I figured you would need comfort sooner then the next day." Naruto nodded as he climbed into the car, closing the door with a loud bang. He heard a meek 'hi' before turning around and seeing Kyuubi's child in the backseat. "Shintaro," Kyuubi confirmed as he pressed his foot on the gas pedal.

"He is pretty cute," Naruto said, reaching behind him to the infant, who grabbed his hand before trying to stick Naruto's finger in his mouth.

"Cute, but teething," Kyuubi said with a smirk when Naruto let out a small yelp. "Sorry, should have warned you." Naruto glared towards his brother playfully, but all Kyuubi did was smirk back at him. Naruto gave a small smile back before leaning his head on Kyuubi's shoulder. The red-head blinked down at him, moving one hand to rub Naruto's shoulder. "I know it's hard sometimes," he said. "But things happen and not everything can be easy. Some things break our hearts to do them. Some can shatter us completely, but we do them anyway."

"I know," Naruto sniffled out as Kyuubi pulled into the apartment parking lot and cut the engine. He rested his chin on his younger brother's head, wrapping his arm around Naruto's shoulder to hug him tightly to his side.

"Come on," Kyuubi sighed. "Let's head inside. We can talk about it in your room." Naruto nodded before climbing out of the car, swinging his backpack onto one shoulder, as Kyuubi took Shintaro from his car seat in the back. He balanced the infant on his waist, kicking the car door shut, before he went with Naruto upstairs. Naruto bent down at his door, removing the key from its hiding spot under the rug before slipping it into the keyhole and unlocking the door. Kyuubi sat on the couch, placing Shintaro on the floor, as Naruto threw his bag to the side and sat next to his older brother, laying his head on Kyuubi's lap.

Kyuubi ran his fingers through Naruto's spiky blond hair, waiting for the younger teen to talk first. "I don't know what to do now," Naruto finally spoke in a small whisper. If the red-head didn't have natural good-hearing, he wouldn't have caught a word Naruto said. "I really don't know."

"Whatever happens, happens," Kyuubi shrugged, moving his hand to Naruto's shoulder before rubbing soothing circles. "You can't really expect to know exactly what to do once you broke up with him. How did that go, anyway?"

"I was trying to stay calm," the blond replied. "But then it turned into a yelling match and I ran off. I didn't want to hear anything he had to say anymore."

"Hm," Kyuubi hummed. "Okay then. Didn't you say you were going to tell me why you wanted to break up with him when I visit you?" Naruto told him why, as calmly as he could without breaking down. He came close a couple times, but managed to hold back the tears. When he was done, Kyuubi stayed silent, still rubbing circles on his brother's shoulder. "Well I don't really think Sasuke deserved you," he said after a moment of silence. "Never really liked Sasuke that much. He was always picking on you and everything. I just wanted to skin him alive. I don't know what you saw in him."

"He used to be so sweet," Naruto quietly said. "I'm starting to question myself about what I saw in him."

Shintaro stood up from his spot on the rug where he was playing with a small red fox toy that he brought with him. He walked over to Naruto with small steps before holding out his fox with a bright smile on his face. Kyuubi chuckled. "He's trying to cheer you up," he pointed out as Naruto smiled and took the fox plushy, holding it to his chest.

"Thanks, Shintaro-chan," he said with a small smile on his face. Shintaro just smiled back before climbing onto the couch with his 'mother' and uncle, curling up against Naruto's stomach. Naruto smiled softly, running his fingers through Shintaro's hair once before hugging the infant tightly.

"Uncle Naru," Shintaro mumbled out before the blond blinked a couple times.

Kyuubi laughed lowly. "Yeah, I was teaching him what he should call you," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. Naruto didn't say anything about it.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sasuke was just sitting on his bed, staring at a framed picture on his bedside table. It was taken when they were thirteen years old and Naruto always wore the ridiculous orange jumpsuit and a pair of goggles on his forehead. He had his arm slung around Sasuke's shoulder with a bright smile on his face. Sasuke, on the other hand, had his head tilted down and his eyes closed with a smirk on his face, hands in his pockets.

'_Come on, Sasuke! Look at the camera!'_

'_No way, dobe.'_

'_You're such a stiff!'_

A small smile met Sasuke's lips at the memory of the picture. Naruto even tried to talk into smiling, and thought Sasuke didn't smile until he saw the picture developed. Then he joked about how good he looked when he did smile. The smile disappeared before he looked over to the phone. He kept arguing with himself on whether he should call and talk to Naruto or not, and always chose not to. He didn't know if Naruto would want to talk to him.

With a sigh, Sasuke reached over and grabbed the phone before pressing the speed dial button then number two. Number one was always Itachi's cell since that was the way his brother programmed the phones. It rung a few times before someone picked up and a unfamiliar voice spoke. "Hello?"

"Is Naruto there?" Sasuke spoke, wondering who was at Naruto's house right now until he remembered Itachi saying something about Kyuubi.

"He's asleep," Kyuubi replied.

"Oh," the raven sighed.

"Leave him alone for a while, Sasuke," Kyuubi advised. Sasuke was surprised Kyuubi knew who was on the phone. "He needs a little space right now. I'm sure the breakup was harder on him then you think it was. After all, he has a lot more to think about then you do." Then Kyuubi hung up.

The phone gave the annoying 'hung up' beeping sound before Sasuke hung it up. He sighed again before leaning back onto his pillows. He looked towards the picture on the table again, staring at it until he fell asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, it was gone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-


	4. Miscarriage

Miscarriage

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyuubi had to leave Sunday afternoon, but Naruto already started to feel better. He was glad he got to see his brother again, not to mention meet his nephew. Shintaro gave a fuss, saying he didn't want to leave, which made Naruto squeal as soon as the infant pouted. Then Kyuubi just sat on the couch and waited until Naruto was ready to let the boy go. Shintaro was the one that wouldn't let go in the end. Eventually, Kyuubi managed to get the infant to let go and left when Naruto was done with the tearful good-bye.

Now it was Wednesday and Naruto was home alone, trying to work on his homework and not getting a word of his math. Normally, Itachi or Sasuke would help him, but he had been trying to avoid Sasuke for the past few days, which had been a little hard since they had lunch and a few classes together. Sasuke, on the other hand, kept trying to talk to him, but Naruto mostly ran off before the raven had a chance.

Itachi found it amusing to see his brother looking so pleading. But he hated to see Naruto trying so hard to avoid his brother. So he used his powers as a teacher to have them exchange seats. Now Sasuke was stuck near his two insane fangirls and Naruto was sitting near Gaara and Lee. Itachi found Sasuke's suffering even more amusing.

With a small sigh, Naruto turned his head to look towards the phone. He gulped down some saliva before reaching over with shaking fingers and picking up the phone. He was trying to avoid Sasuke, but maybe he could get Itachi to help him out. He pushed in the number before holding the phone to his ear. It rung a few times and when Naruto was about to hang up, someone answered. "Hello, Uchiha Itachi speaking," deep voice spoke.

"Hi, Itachi," Naruto greeted with a small smile. At least Sasuke didn't pick up.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah."

"Haven't heard from you outside of school in a while. You okay?"

Naruto chewed on his lip. Kyuubi was right. Itachi had a crush on him and he could tell from the concern in the Uchiha's voice. "Yeah, I'm fine," the blond replied. "Just working on homework and I got stuck. Again."

Itachi chuckled. "Math is not your strongest subject, is it, Naruto?"

"Not one bit," Naruto admitted. "But I do try to listen and understand. I'm just not that good on the subject. Everything else I'm good at, except for Gym right now."

"Do your other teachers even know your condition right now?" Itachi asked.

"Orochimaru-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei (duh), and Asuma-sensei all know," Naruto replied. "I think Kurenai-sensei knows, too."

"Naruto, she's not a sensei. Just a librarian."

"I call her sensei," Naruto stated with a small shrug. "She doesn't care."

"So they're the only ones who know? No one else does?"

"No," Naruto said, shaking his head slightly.

"Hang on one second," Itachi sighed. "Sasuke, get off the phone. Don't think I don't know you're there." The sound of a phone being hung up met Naruto's ear. "Sorry, Sasuke's been listening since you started saying who knows about your pregnancy. So is there anything wrong?"

"No, I'm just stuck on this one problem and can't figure it out," Naruto replied, tapping the tip of his pencil on the worksheet.

"Which one?" Itachi asked.

"Um, number fifteen," the blond replied. "Dividing one fraction with another."

Papers' flipping was heard before Itachi started to speak again. "Alright, found it," he said. "Would you like me to talk you through the steps, or do you want one of us to go to the other?"

"Um, maybe you can come over here? I really don't want to go over there if Sasuke's there. It's hard enough avoiding him at school."

"Alright, I'll be over in a little bit," Itachi chuckled.

"Okay. See you in a bit."

"Bye, Naruto-kun."

"Bye." Both hung up. Naruto gave out a low sigh before the phone started to ring again. "Hello?" he spoke into it when he answered. Nothing. "Hello?" Still no reply. "Sasuke, if that's you, stop being an asshole." Still no answer. "Is anyone there?" Then the annoying beeping was heard and Naruto hung the phone back up. "Okay? That was a little weird. Must have been one of those nobody prank callers."

He sighed again, standing from his chair and walking over to his bed, lying down on the thick blankets once he reached it. He nuzzled his face into the fluffed pillows, inhaling deeply and letting out a single cough. He needed to spray the place with something that smelled good. He didn't know how long he was laying there, waiting for Itachi to show up. He jumped when he heard knocking on the door. "One minute!" he called, getting up from the bed before walking over to the door. When he opened it, he smiled brightly. "Hey, Itachi," he greeted, opening the door wider.

"Naruto," he greeted back as he stepped in. "Figure anything out?"

"Not one thing, but then again, I didn't want to continue until I had someone that could explain things to me was here," Naruto replied, closing the door once Itachi was inside the apartment. "Sasuke ask where you were going?"

"He asked if I was coming here, but I told him I was heading to the office because Zetsu had something he wanted to show me," the brunet said. "I don't think he bought it, though. How long was Kyuubi here?"

Naruto blinked in astonishment as he sat down on the bed, his worksheet still on the desk. "How did you know he was over?" the blond asked.

"I recognize that Mustang anywhere," Itachi said, going over to the desk where the worksheet laid forgotten. "How long was he here?"

"Just for the weekend," Naruto stated, digging through his backpack for a notebook so he could work on the bed. That way, Itachi could sit instead of standing behind him while walking him through the worksheet. He smirked when he pulled out his binder before going over to the desk and grabbing the worksheet. "We can work on the bed so you can sit," Naruto said before Itachi nodded.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sasuke looked all over the house for the picture that went missing. He even searched in Itachi's room, but still no sign of it. "Damn it!" Sasuke growled. "Itachi took it and I know he did! Where did he put it? Let's see. Think like Itachi. Think like Itachi. I cannot believe I just said that. Think like Itachi." With an aggravated growl, he continued searching throughout the large house.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Thanks a lot, Itachi," Naruto said, sticking his work into the binder in his lap. "I think I get it a little better now."

"Good to know," Itachi chuckled. "Think you'll do okay on the test Friday?"

"There's a test?!" the blond asked in disbelief.

"I'll tell everyone else tomorrow, but I decided to give you a heads-up so you have longer to study," Itachi replied.

"Thanks," Naruto groaned, rubbing his forehead a little. "Man, a test? I'm going to fail and I know it! I always fail!"

"I don't think you will, Naruto-kun," the Uchiha reassured. "You'll do fine. You managed to do number twenty by yourself just fine. And I didn't need to help you with it. By the way, number twenty is the hardest. Not to mention you did the first fourteen pretty well before I got here."

"Stop trying to make me feel better," the blond growled, laying on his back. "I sometimes really hate you, Itachi," he joked with a small laugh. Itachi just chuckled as he slowly shook his head. "What? I do!" Itachi looked at him with a smirk as he sat back up. "Really, Itachi. Thanks a lot. Not just for helping me on the homework or for giving me the heads-up on the test. I mean thanks for a lot of things. You've really been there for me when I needed someone."

"Of course I have, Naruto," Itachi replied with a small smile. "What are friends for when they're not there when you need them?"

Naruto smiled back before nuzzling his face into Itachi's shoulder. "I'm glad I have you for a friend, then," he sighed. Itachi's jaw tensed up, staring down at the peaceful blond leaning on his shoulder. He lowered his head until his nose was buried in the golden locks, sighing deeply to take in the scent. Naruto shifted around a little bit, making Itachi pull away before bright blue eyes looked up at him.

And then Itachi just couldn't hold back anymore. Hesitantly, he gently pressed his lips against Naruto's. Naruto's eyes went wide before he leaned into the kiss, his hands pressed against Itachi's chest as the brunet wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist. When he felt Itachi starting to slip his hands up his shirt, he pulled away. "No," he protested.

Itachi pulled his hands away, moving then to his side where he gripped at the blanket. "Sorry," he said. "That was inappropriate and inexcusable of me."

"It's okay," Naruto weakly assured. "I just don't want to get into another relationship right now. I mean, Sasuke and I did just break up." He chewed on his bottom lip. "I just don't think I can handle being with someone else for a while."

Itachi nodded in understand. "I think I should leave before I do something else," he stated, getting to his feet. Naruto was about to get up as well, but Itachi stopped him. "I can show myself to the door," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

"Bye," Naruto whispered as Itachi walked out the door. Then he pulled his knees into his chest, lowering his face into his arms that crossed themselves over his knee. His breathing turned shaky as he rocked back and forth, using the balls of his feet to push him. Then he cried out angrily, jumping off the bed before heading into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. The phone started to ring again, but Naruto didn't answer it.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"That didn't take you long," Sasuke noted when Itachi came in through the front door.

"Something wrong, Sasuke?" he asked in an innocent tone.

"Yeah, I highly doubt you went to the company," his younger brother stated. "You went to Naruto's and I know it. You think I'm stupid? You leave right when you get off the phone with him? I can put two and two together! And what the hell did you do with my picture?!"

"What picture?" Itachi asked, continuing to act like an innocent being accused of a crime.

"My picture!" Sasuke snapped. "The picture on my table of me and Naruto! I know you took it! What did you do with it?!"

"I can say with all honesty that I have no clue what you are shouting about, little brother," the older Uchiha stated.

"Stop lying to me, Itachi!" he continued to shout at his older brother. "What did you do with it?!"

"Hid it," Itachi replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "You can't tell me you really want to keep it."

"Of course I do, you asshole!"

"I'm sure you have countless other pictures of Naruto somewhere in your room," Itachi sighed, inspecting his nails.

"They're all gone! Where did you put them all?!"

Itachi lifted his gaze from his nails to his brother. "Sasuke, I don't think I should tell you. If you keep pictures of Naruto all around your room, you'll end up obsessed with him and you'll eventually hurt him or do something to make him yours again. I would rather you didn't." Sasuke growled at him, fist clenched, before he charged towards Itachi, ready to throw a punch. But Itachi stepped to the side and punched Sasuke in the stomach before his brother could hit him in the face. "Stop acting so irrational, Sasuke," he said in a dangerous tone. "It's the best for the both of you."

"What the hell do you know?" Sasuke growled out, stepping away from Itachi as he rubbed his stomach. "Just what the hell do you know?!"

"A lot more then you do, foolish otouto," Itachi replied before the house phone started to ring again.

It rung about four times before the answering machine picked up. '_You have reached the Uchiha residence,'_ Itachi's voice came from the speaker. _'State your name, business, and a number to reach you at the tone.'_ Then the phone gave a loud high-pitched beep.

"_Sasuke? Itachi?"_ a frantic voice spoke through the phone. _"It's Iruka, Naruto's guardian."_

Itachi picked up the phone before Sasuke could. "This is Itachi speaking," he said into the phone.

"Good," Iruka sighed. "Listen, there isn't much I can explain over the phone, but can you and Sasuke both come over to the hospital?"

"Why?" Itachi asked.

"It's Naruto," Iruka simply said before Itachi's eyes went wide.

"Which hospital?" Sasuke's eyes went wide this time. If Iruka was calling and asking them to come to a hospital, then something was up and he didn't like it. Itachi nodded when Iruka told him where to go. "Alright. We'll be there in a few minutes." He hung up the phone before looking towards Sasuke. "Get your shoes on. Something's happened to Naruto." Sasuke nodded, running to get his shoes on. "I'll be waiting in the car!" Itachi yelled out before Sasuke yelled back. Sasuke came out of the house as soon as the car started, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A man with brown hair tied into a high spiky ponytail with brown eyes and a scar crossing over his nose paced from wall to wall, glancing up and down the hallway before turning his gaze to the door. "Iruka, calm down," Kakashi said from his spot on the bench. "You'll make a hole in the floor."

"How can I be calm, Kakashi?" Iruka asked. "Naruto's in the hospital! I can't stay calm!" Kakashi just shrugged. "Why are you not worried about him?"

"Because I know the way the Uzumaki family is. You have to cut their heads off just to kill one. Relax. Naruto will live."

"I really do hope you're right, Kakashi," Iruka depressingly sighed, looking back at the door. To him, it was growing larger and larger with every passing second.

"Who did you call?" Kakashi asked, flipping the page in his book.

"Sasuke and Itachi," the brunet replied. "This could effect Naruto's pregnancy and I thought that Sasuke should know what was going on. Why would Naruto even do something like this in the first place?"

"Ma, ma, Iruka," Kakashi sighed, looking over the top of his book. "I thought Naruto told you."

"Told me what?" Iruka asked, glaring towards the silver-haired man.

"He broke up with Sasuke," Kakashi replied. "I was there when he did, watching from a distance. Though I'm sure Sasuke should know about this, Naruto may not want him here. Especially if this causes a miscarriage."

"Well thanks for telling me sooner!" Iruka tried not to snap. Kakashi just smiled behind his mask before his eye landed on his book once again.

"Iruka-sensei! Kakashi-sensei!" someone yelled before Iruka looked down the hall. Sasuke was running towards them, but Itachi was walking as calmly as he could. "What happened?!" he asked, stopping in front of the brunet. "Where's Naruto?!"

"Sasuke, stop yelling," Itachi sighed. "We are in a hospital."

"That's why I'm worried, Itachi!" Sasuke yelled at his brother, who just clamped his hand over Sasuke's mouth.

"Iruka, please explain," he calmly said, looking towards the brunet as Sasuke tried to get Itachi's hand off his mouth.

Iruka sighed silently. "I called Naruto a while ago at his apartment, and when he didn't answer, I got worried," he started. "He normally answers the phone every time someone calls his house and I knew he would be at home since he's never at your home around this time of day. I was lucky to get to him when I did or we would have lost him."

Sasuke finally managed to get Itachi's hand away. "What happened?!" he yelled again. Itachi's hand covered his mouth again.

"I'm explaining, Sasuke," Iruka pointed out. "When I got to his apartment, the door was unlocked, so I knew he was there, but I couldn't find him. Then I heard something in the bathroom and went to check." A small sigh created seconds of a pause. "Naruto slit both his wrists." Both pairs of eyes went wide. "I just barely got to him on time. He's just barely alive right now. He was really pale when I found him. I brought him here as soon as I wrapped his wrist. He's in there right now. They're fixing him up. Honestly, I'm surprised he's alive. There was a lot of blood on the floor."

Itachi, thinking Sasuke was in too much shock to yell, lowered his hand. Like he thought, Sasuke didn't say a word, he just whispered under his breath incoherently. Then he snapped around and grabbed Itachi by the front of his shirt. "What did you do?!" he yelled. Both Iruka and Kakashi blinked curiously. Itachi remain impassive. "You were with him last! You went to his house! What the hell did you do to make him try and commit suicide?!"

"I did nothing other then help him with his homework," Itachi calmly replied, gripping Sasuke's wrist before pulling the hand away from his shirt. "That is all." There was no way he was going to tell Sasuke about the kiss. Then Sasuke would make him feel even guiltier by saying it was his fault that Naruto cut himself. "What made him do such, I do not know. Stop trying to blame everything on me, Sasuke."

"You did something and I know you did! What did you do, Itachi?!"

Before Itachi could defend himself again, the door opened and a woman with short black hair and dark eyes stepped out of the room. "Excuse me," she quietly spoke. "But can you please not yell? You'll wake him up. He shouldn't be active until he has enough blood back in his body."

Sasuke blinked a couple times before rushing over to the woman. "Naruto, is he-?"

"He'll be fine," the woman assured.

"He's four months pregnant," the raven pointed out. "What about the baby?"

Her small smile fell as she lowered her gaze to the floor. "He lost too much blood to sustain the child. And we weren't able to save it in time." Sasuke's eyes went wide before he stared at the floor, slowly staggering away. "I'm sorry. Do any of you know why he did something like this?"

"No," Iruka replied. "He'll be alright, though. Right?"

"Yes," she replied. "Naruto-san will be fine. Unfortunately, he did have a miscarriage." Sasuke leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down it. He lowered his head into his palms, inhaling deeply, before lowering his head a little more until his hands were connected at the back of his head. "Excuse me," the woman said with a small bow when the door opened and a couple other people left the room. One whispered something into her ear before she nodded. "He's asleep right now, but you can still go in and see him as long as you don't wake him up."

"Thank you," Iruka said with a small bow of his head before the nurse smiled softly and left. Kakashi got up from his spot on the bench, stuffing his orange book into his jacket pocket for now. Sasuke was already at his feet and in the room. Itachi just sighed from his brother's impatience as he walked in with the other two men.

Naruto did look pale. An IV tube connected a sack filled with blood to a vein in his elbow. Both wrist were bandaged, and most likely had cotton pads under then judging from the bumps they had. His breathing was soft and relaxed, taking in deep breaths every now and then. Sasuke sat on the bed next to him, one hand holding loosely onto Naruto's limp fingers.

"We should be lucky that you went over when you did, Iruka-san," Itachi said, taking a seat by the window as Iruka occupied the chair next to the hospital bed where Naruto laid. Kakashi just leaned against the wall and whipped out his book again. "If not, we would have lost him."

"I'm just wondering why he even did this," Iruka sighed, brushing a few strands soft golden hair from Naruto's face.

"Too much stress or pain, probably," Kakashi said.

"Or maybe what he wanted, he already did," Itachi stated, bring two pairs of eyes to him. The third pair stayed on Naruto's form. "He and Sasuke recently broke up, as I'm sure you both know." Iruka and Kakashi nodded. "He's been trying to figure out what to do with the child. He only had a fifty-fifty percent chance of a miscarriage and if he gave birth to it, he may not be able to look at it without it reminding him of Sasuke." The raven turned his head to glare at his brother. "He forced himself into a miscarriage," Itachi concluded.

"Forced himself into a miscarriage?" Iruka repeated as Kakashi pout his book away. "Why would he do that? Naruto's always wanted kids."

"Like I said, the child would have reminded him of Sasuke, and he wasn't prepared for that," Itachi reminded. Sasuke stayed silent. "He was trying to break all bonds he had to Sasuke so it would be easier for him to move on."

"How the hell can you be so sure about that?" Sasuke asked through clenched teeth. Itachi just stared at him blankly. "How can you know what he was thinking at the time?"

"Because he actually talks to me about things, Sasuke," Itachi pointed out before his phone started to ring. He picked up after the second high-pitched ring. "Hello?" he spoke into it. "Itachi speaking."

"Is someone going to tell me why I just had a really bad feeling a moment ago?" a familiar voice asked in a demanding tone.

"For you," Itachi said, tossing the phone to Iruka. "It's Kyuubi."

"Kyuubi?" Iruka spoke into the receiver. "That you?"

"Depends on who this is," Kyuubi replied.

"It's Iruka, who else?" the brunet stated.

"Hey, Iruka!" Kyuubi greeted. "Hey, is Naruto all right? I got a really bad feeling and when I tried to call him, he didn't answer."

Iruka sighed, not really sure on how Kyuubi would react to the bad news. "He's in the hospital right now," he said.

"He's what?!" Kyuubi yelled, making Iruka hold the phone arms length's away. Itachi smirked as Sasuke stared at the phone curiously. Kakashi just stared blankly. "Why the hell is my younger brother in the fucking hospital?!"

"We're in his room, Kyuubi," Iruka pointed out. "If you yell any louder, you'll wake him up." Kyuubi just growled. "We don't really know the real reason, but Naruto…he cut himself." Kyuubi continued to growl, but Iruka thought he heard him ask 'why'. "Itachi thinks it's because Naruto was forcing himself into a miscarriage, but we don't know for sure."

"Give the phone back to Itachi," Kyuubi said after taking a deep breath.

Iruka looked over to Itachi before handing the phone back to the older Uchiha. Sasuke kept his eyes on it. "Well it is what I think," Itachi sighed.

"I'm going to give you my new number and then I want you to call me as soon as Naruto wakes up, got it?" Kyuubi asked in a deadly tone.

"Understood," Itachi sighed with a roll of his eyes. "Anyone got a paper and pencil?" he asked before Kakashi pulled both out from one of his pockets.

"Anything else you can fit in there?" Iruka asked with a blank stare. Kakashi just laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head as Kyuubi gave Itachi his number while the brunet wrote it down.

"Alright, I'll call when he wakes up," Itachi said, tossing the pencil back to Kakashi.

"You better, Itachi," Kyuubi growled before hanging up.

Itachi flipped his phone close, stuffing it into his pocket. "Well he wants me to call him when Naruto wakes up," he sighed. "Probably so he can yell at him for a little bit and try to get Naruto to tell him why he did it."

"I hope Naruto does wake up," Sasuke muttered. His eyes trailed down the unnatural pale arms of Naruto's before landing on the bandages that went from the blonde's elbow down to his palm.

"He will, Sasuke," Kakashi assured, patting the younger Uchiha on the back. "Trust me. He'll most likely be awake by tomorrow morning."

"Hope you're right, Kakashi," Iruka sighed. "I really do hope you're right." Itachi and Sasuke both nodded in agreement. Sasuke refused to leave his spot on Naruto's bed for a entire hour, even when the nurse said it was time for them to go. Itachi had to knock him out and carry him out just to get his brother to leave. Itachi made a small note to himself to check on Naruto before heading to school tomorrow morning. Just to check up on the blond a while.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-


	5. Monday

Monday

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto was released from the hospital on Saturday, but refused to answer any calls or open the door for anyone for the rest of the weekend. Iruka came over as often as he could to make sure the blond was alive. Naruto got a little more depressed when he asked about the baby and heard that he lost it. Then he just curled up into a little ball on the bed under his covers and fell asleep, ignoring the world around him. When Iruka came over Monday morning to check on the blond, Naruto was already dressed and packed for school, but Iruka changed the bandages on Naruto's arms before driving him there.

First period was a Study Hall for Naruto, and he just hid in the library, laying on the living room set Kurenai put in the middle of the large room. Kurenai came over to him once every ten to fifteen minutes to check if he was alright. But he remained still and silent, curled up into a ball once again. He didn't even know he fell asleep until the bell for second period rung, making him jump in surprise. He gathered his pack, slinging it over his shoulder, before going to his Chemistry class down the hall.

Orochimaru had once again brought in a snake, but it was a silver one, unlike Manda, with bright purple eyes. When he walked in, he noticed he was the first. The only other people in the room where Orochimaru and Kabuto. The silver snake was laying on the teacher's desk, coiled up tightly until it looked like an oversized cinnamon bun. "Naruto," Orochimaru greeted when the blond walked in. "How are you feeling? Itachi just told all of your teachers you weren't in the best of health."

"Sorry, sensei," Naruto quietly said, lowering his head into his crossed arms.

Orochimaru stood with a small sigh, making his way over to the teen before kneeling beside him and rubbing his back soothingly. "Naruto, did something happen?" he asked in a quiet tone. "Something Itachi didn't tell us?" Naruto just tucked his arms under his head a little more. But Orochimaru caught a small glimpse of Naruto's hand. "What happened to your hand?" he asked. Naruto hesitantly pulled one out, pulling up his sleeve a little to show how far the bandages went. "Naruto," Orochimaru quietly spoke, gently holding onto the arm. "What happened?"

"I lost it," he replied. "Both my mind and my baby."

Kabuto came over as well, taking Naruto's arm into his hand. He noticed a small spot on the bandages. "Naruto, did you cut yourself?" he asked. "People don't bandage arms like this unless they have a good reason. And usually, that reason is cuts." Naruto hesitantly nodded, burying his face into his other arm.

"Why did you do that?" Orochimaru asked, petting back Naruto's hair. The blond just sighed deeply, his breath shaking slightly. "Alright, we'll leave you alone," he said. "I won't give you your make-up work until tomorrow so you have a little bit less to worry about. Okay?" Naruto nodded before Orochimaru stood and went back to his chair. The snake that was coiled on the desk slithered off and headed over to Naruto, winding itself up the chair until it was wrapped around his shoulders. There it laid its head next to Naruto's, nudging him softly, but Naruto just buried his face deeper, bringing the arm Kabuto inspected back under his head.

After the warning bell rung, the class started to file in, one by one. Some stopped and glanced towards Naruto, but Kabuto clearing his throat made them continue to their seats. Naruto didn't move the entire lesson, but he did listen. Orochimaru hadn't said anything about his cuts, which he was thankful for. But he might still talk to Itachi about them later on during the day.

When the bell for the end of the hour rung, Naruto finally moved, slowly standing to his feet and picking up his backpack. He carefully removed the snake from his shoulders before handing it back to Orochimaru. "Naruto," the pale man called out before Naruto could make it out the door. "No more self-inflicted injuries. It would break all of our hearts if we lost you."

"I know," Naruto quietly said, lowering his head as his gaze fell. "I'm sorry, sensei. I was just confused at the time."

"Understandable," Orochimaru sighed with a nod of his head. "Go on and head to your next class."

With a nod of his head Naruto walked out the door. He felt invisible as he passed through the halls. Even when he dropped by his locker and put his things away before heading over to the Gym. Asuma greeted him as calmly as he could, but Gai was a bit louder upon Naruto's arrival. Almost immediately, he was surrounded by his friends, all wanting to know where he's been and why he hasn't been answering his phone when they called. Asuma managed to get them to sit down in their spots and allow Naruto to sit out for the day.

Of course, Shikamaru joined the blond on the 'sitting out' part since he never did anything in gym. They were supposed to be playing soccer this week, but Shikamaru just wanted to lay down on the green grass and stare at the large clouds floating above. Asuma just picked him up and put him on the benches with Naruto, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get the brunet to do much.

"So what happened?" Shikamaru asked as everyone broke off into teams. "Why were you gone for three days and why didn't you pick up when we called?"

"I was in the hospital," Naruto replied, turning his head away. "I lost my baby."

"So Sasuke wasn't lying," he sighed before the blond looked at him with a confused look. "Sasuke came in Thursday and when we asked where you were, he told us you turned suicidal. Wouldn't say much more then that."

Naruto lowered his head into his bent knees. "Yeah, he didn't lie," he admitted. "I wasn't trying to kill myself, though. I just didn't know what else to do. I was so stressed out that I could not handle it anymore."

Shikamaru gave out a small sigh. "Troublesome," he muttered, sitting up a little bit before wrapping his arm around Naruto's shoulder. The blonde looked over to him. "You've been hiding some things from us, Naruto. Some things you've been wanting to tell everyone, or at least, all of your friends. But you kept it inside, instead. You kept it all to yourself. And that eventually puts too much stress on you that you were confused." Naruto's gaze lowered before he nodded his head slowly. "You know, we're not going to turn a blind eye to you if there's something you want to talk about.

"We're your friends, Naruto. We're here for you when you need us. Just give us a call. We don't care if it's about a small spider you're too scared of to get rid of yourself. If there's something bothering you, let us know. We want to help you and we want to keep you happy. We're all worried about you, Naruto. And what you did would just make us worry even more.

"You're like our personal sun. You always make us smile when we're down. You always cheer us up. And when we feel like we could just die, you were always there for us and cheering us up in the end. You even got some of us together, like with Gaara and Lee, Chouji and myself, and Shino and Kiba. You're our sun, Naruto. If our sun died, we don't know what we would do. We'll do anything to keep you burning bright."

Naruto stared at the brunet in amazement, surprised by Shikamaru's words. Then a small soft smile graced his lips before he nudged his head into Shikamaru's shoulder, making the lazy teen look at him. "Thanks a lot, Shikamaru," he sighed.

"Sure," he said, giving Naruto's a small squeeze before letting go and laying back down on the bench. "Now, is there anything that's bothering you that we should know about?"

"No," the blond replied, shaking his head. "Nothing."

"Alright," the brunet sighed. "If you say so. But remember, we're your friends. When something's bothering you, we'll provide the shoulder for you to cry on." Naruto nodded with a small smile, turning his gaze to the soccer game. As far as he could tell, Lee kicked the hardest. Chouji only played when the ball came near him. Haku and Kankuro kept running around, trying to get the ball from the opposing team. Neji kept watching and thinking about openings, kicking the ball to whoever had one that was on his team. With a sigh, Naruto looked back down at Shikamaru. He gave a small laugh through his breath when he noticed the teen fell asleep, arms behind his head and face pointing towards the sky, like he was still watching the clouds.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto snuck away from the group at lunch, wanting to look for a certain individual. That, and he didn't want to face Sasuke at the moment, especially after the hospital. He peered around every corner to figure out where the gang was sitting so he could get to them before lunch was over. He found them under the Sakura Tree in the back.

Gaara was leaning against Lee, who was yammering on about something to Sai. Neji had Hinata on his lap, talking to Sasuke about something that Sasuke obviously didn't like to talk about, judging from the annoyed look he was getting. Kankuro was teasing his elder sister, Temari, about the lunch she cooked, but she just hit him on the head with her fan. Shino was with Kiba in the tree, a small white dog poking its head out from Kiba's jacket. Another girl with buns in her hair and brown eyes was sitting near Neji, but he didn't take much notice of her. Shikamaru was laying on the ground, next to Chouji, who was now eating a BBQ Chicken and Beef sandwich. Sakura and Ino weren't too far away, trying to get Sasuke to notice them, but he didn't to their disappointment.

He smiled slightly before turning around and running off down the halls to reach the other side of the school. When he reached Itachi's classroom door, he sighed before pushing the door open a little bit to see if Itachi was busy or not. The brunet was just sitting at his desk, his eyes going over papers scattered all over his desk. When he heard the door creak open, he glanced over. "Come in, Naruto," he said, scribbling something down on one paper with red ink. Hesitantly, Naruto stepped into the room, closing the door silently behind him. "Is there something you want to talk about?" he asked, looking towards the blond.

"I just wanted to talk about what happened last Wednesday," Naruto quietly replied. Itachi placed the red pen down.

"You scared us, Naruto," he pointed out. "Iruka almost had a heart attack. Sasuke could have passed out from lack of blood to his brain. Kakashi had seemed to have been the only calm one throughout the ordeal. Even Kyuubi got worried enough to call me as soon as he felt something was wrong and when you wouldn't answer."

"I know," Naruto whispered, lowering his head to stare at the floor.

"Come over here," Itachi said, nudging his head to the side a little bit. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I just wanted to let you know something," the blond replied, turning his head slightly as he continued to stare at the floor. Itachi waited patiently for Naruto to gather his thoughts. "Um, I didn't want you to feel guilty about it or anything." Itachi continued to stare, but wondered how Naruto knew he how he felt when he was looking at the blond in the hospital. "Just so you know, what happened had nothing to do with it. I was stressed out over other matters and I had a lot on my mind. I didn't do it because you kissed me or anything like that. I don't want you to think it did, so I thought I should clear that up for you."

"I understand, Naruto," Itachi said with a small nod of his head. "How are you holding up so far?"

"Alright," the blond replied with a faint smile. "Got lectured by Shikamaru in Gym class."

Itachi chuckled slightly. "Naruto, can I ask you the real reason why you cut yourself?" The teen tensed up a little bit, smile gone and eyes widened a little bit. "I highly doubt it had anything to do with stresses that you were holding back from everyone else."

Naruto sighed. "You're right," he hesitantly admitted. "I had a different reason."

"Were you forcing yourself into a miscarriage, Naruto?" the brunet asked. Naruto gave a small, barely noticeable, nod. "Why?"

"Because," he choked out. "As soon as I would see it, hold it when it was born, it would have reminded me of Sasuke. And I didn't want that."

"As I thought," Itachi sighed before Naruto looked up at him with a confused gaze. "I believed that was the reason why you did it, and told the others that were there as well, but they doubted my thoughts. But something kept telling me that was your reason."

With a small sigh, Naruto walked around the desk, standing by Itachi's side. The Uchiha turned his head to see what the blond was going to do, but what happened surprised him a little bit. Naruto gently placed his hand on Itachi's cheek before pressing his lips against Itachi's. Itachi's arm wound around the blonde's waist before pulling Naruto to his lap. Both of Naruto's arms circled around Itachi's neck, pulling the brunet into a fiercer kiss. Itachi nipped at Naruto's lower lip, begging for entry. Naruto allowed it with a low moan before Itachi shot his tongue into Naruto's mouth, their tongues battling for dominance. The brunet had won.

When Naruto's lungs burned for air, the blond pulled away, taking in a gasp of air. Itachi just sighed contently as he lightly kissed his way down Naruto's neck. Naruto pulled the older brunet's face from his neck before kissing him again for a few seconds. "I gotta go back to lunch," he said, getting off of Itachi's lap. "See you in another fifteen minutes," he joked, turning around and running off. Itachi just leaned back in his chair with a smile on his lips that were traced by the tips of his fingers. Once Naruto was at the halfway point between Itachi's classroom and the Cafeteria, he leaned against the wall, touching his lips slightly. "God, now I feel like a whore," he sighed to himself. "I just broke up with Sasuke and now I'm kissing his older brother."

He looked around for a moment, hoping nobody heard him, before sprinting down the hall once again, heading towards the spot where the group sat. When he got there, he noticed Sasuke was gone, most likely looking for him. Sakura and Ino were gone, too. Most likely stalking the raven. Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, and Lee were all gone as well, and knowing Lee, he left tog et some alone time with Gaara. He wasn't perverted or anything. He just doesn't get enough time with his red-headed lover alone. "Hey, Naruto!" someone called out before the blond looked to see Kiba waving his hand to him. "Get over here!" Naruto smiled before running over to the gang, sitting down on the ground between Neji and Kiba, who got out of the tree sometime with Shino during Naruto's talk with Itachi.

"Where did Sasuke go?" the blond asked, looking around in case the raven was close by, just hiding from view.

"Went inside for something," Kiba replied. "And his two stalkers went right after him. Speaking of Sasuke, he says you turned crazy. What happened?"

"Nothing," Naruto replied, shaking his head.

"I doubt that bandages on your arms mean nothing, Naruto," Neji calmly said.

Hinata blinked a couple times before looking down at Naruto's hands, seeing some bandaging on them before gasping. "Naruto-kun!" she gasped. "What did you do? What happened?"

"Nothing," Naruto repeated, hiding his arms behind his back as he lowered his gaze. "Leave me alone already."

"I already talked to him about it," Shikamaru sighed. "No need to yell at him or anything. He already got a lecture about it."

"About what?" Tenten asked. "Naruto, what did you do to make Sasuke say you turned crazy?"

"This and that," the blond quietly replied.

"You know, you look a bit thinner," Chouji pointed out. Naruto flinched slightly, keeping his gaze on the ground.

Shikamaru sat up a little bit and whispered low enough for Chouji and the other two, Kiba and Sai, close to him to hear. "He had a miscarriage. Don't talk to him about it. He's still a little torn up by the entire thing."

"Oh," the three gasped.

"I still don't get why Sasuke called Naruto crazy about it," Sai muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "I swear, that guy has male PMS or something like that. He's nothing but a dick."

"Thinks with it, more like," Naruto grumbled under his breath, but Sai heard him.

"So Naruto, now that you've broken up with Sasuke, want to get with me?"

"Uh, no," the blond chuckled. "Sai, you're not much better then Sasuke. Besides, I don't think I can date something that looks like my ex-boyfriend's clone with short hair and constantly says the words you say."

Sai dropped his head in disappointment. "Oh well. Can't stop a guy from trying, right?"

"I think you're already interested in someone else, Naruto," Neji stated. "But I wonder, who can it be?"

"I'm not interested in anyone right now," Naruto lied. He was always a bad liar and was always caught, but he tried to make it sound convincing anyways. "I don't plan on going out with anyone for a while. I just broke up with Sasuke, for crying out loud!"

"And the first two to flock to him are Sakura and Ino as soon as they hear about it," Tenten sighed. "To them, he broke up with you because he believed the rumors they started. They never thought of you breaking it off with him. Though he still isn't interested in them. What guy can be, anyway? They're such pains in the ass and are so competitive."

"And you weren't?" Neji asked, looking towards the brunette, who just scoffed as she turned her head away.

"Things must be really awkward with you guys," Kiba joked, laughing a little. "Tenten, why do you come here when you know you're just going to see Neji with Hinata?"

"Hey, a girl can dream, right?" Tenten asked with a shrug.

"Your ex is unusual, Neji," Shino blankly stated, watching a small bug crawl up and down his finger. Neji just shrugged before placing his chin on Hinata's shoulder.

"I heard you, Shino," Tenten pointed out.

"Meant to be heard," Shino sighed before he was pounced on by his hyperactive boyfriend.

"Oh, by the way, guys," Naruto spoke up. "Kyuubi says 'hi'. He called yesterday to check up on me."

"Sure, pick up the phone when it's your brother, but not for your friends, who are worried to death about you!" Kiba exclaimed.

"I had caller ID and if I didn't pick up for him, he would call Itachi," the blond pointed out with a small sigh. "That's what he did when I was in the hospital. I wouldn't pick up my home phone, so he calls Itachi. Got a lecture from him, too, as soon as I woke up and Itachi was around." He sighed before looking from face to face with pleading eyes. "He hates me right now, doesn't he?"

"Well he acted like he was turned completely against you last Thursday," Chouji replied.

"Naruto, why won't you just tell us what happened?" Hinata asked, placing her hand gently on the blonde's before squeezing his fingers reassuringly.

"I can't," he said, lowering his head. "I just can't."

Hinata slipped off of Neji's lap, crouching down in front of the blond before lifting his head to look at her. "Naruto, please. We were worried about you. We promise not to yell or anything. But please, we want to know what happened. Why were you in the hospital? Why are your arms wrapped?" Naruto stayed quiet. "Naruto, if you don't tell us, we're going to assume the worst!"

"I cut myself, alright!" Naruto snapped, causing Hinata to flinch slightly. "I had too much stress and pressure on my shoulders that I snapped and slit my wrists!" He choked back a small sob. "And I lost my baby because I was being stupid and cowardly!"

He expected to get yelled at by at least Kiba or maybe even Sai, but instead, he was pulled into someone's chest with hands petting down his hair. "Naruto, you should tell us when you're stressed out about something," Hinata softly said, still petting back his hair.

"Come on, it's not like we're going to tell you to go on ahead and do whatever the hell you want," Kiba agreed.

"Friends looks after friends," Shino sighed. "We wouldn't be friends if we didn't look after you, Naruto."

"Next time you feel stressed out about something, Naruto, let us know and we'll help out as much as we can," Chouji stated. Shikamaru nodded in agreement.

"We want you to be at ease, Naruto," Tenten spoke up. "But we can't do that if you don't tell us if something's wrong with you."

"And of course, I always have a shoulder for you to cry on when you need it," Sai said with a smile on his face.

"We're not going to abandon you, Naruto," Neji pointed out. "We would never do anything like that. We'll stay with you and help you out, but you have to let us know if something's wrong or we won't know if you're in trouble or not."

Naruto sniffled a couple times before nodding. "thanks, guys," he choked out. "I'm really lucky to have friends like you guys. I actually expected you to yell at me for being an idiot."

"We'll do that later," Kiba joked. Naruto let out a weak laugh.

"Maybe this is fate's plan for you, Naruto," Neji said before everyone groaned, except for Naruto and Hinata.

"Come on, Neji," Chouji groaned out. "Enough with the fate stuff."

"You talk about fate all the time," Shikamaru pointed out. "Enough is enough."

"I'm just saying," Neji defended, lifting up his hands as he lowered his head, tilted to the side a little bit. "Still, Naruto's fate must not be tangled with Sasuke's since they go through too much for their relationship to stay steady. Naruto's meant to be with someone else."

"Then please enlighten who this someone else might be," Tenten sighed, laying down on her stomach as she supported her chin onto her palms.

"I can't say," Neji said, lowering his hands as he lifted his head. "But he's not meant for Sasuke."

"Maybe he's meant for me!" Sai cheerfully stated.

"Uh, how about no," Kiba bluntly said, glaring towards the other brunet. "If he's not supposed to be with Sasuke, he sure as hell isn't supposed to be with you." Sai sighed disappointedly. Some of the others laughed. Naruto coughed one out.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-


	6. Itachi

Itachi

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sasuke was once again, being the biggest pain in his life. He had no idea how he could handle his younger brother for this long. He was actually thinking of handing him over to Deidara or maybe even Tobi for the rest of the day. In class today, Sasuke was an even bigger stiff then normal, and wouldn't even tell why he was behaving the way he was. Itachi was about ready to strangle the younger Uchiha. And of course, Sasuke didn't talk the entire ride back home.

Now Itachi was just sitting in front of his computer, working on something for the company, before the phone started ringing. He looked down at the red phone by his computer, debating whether he should answer or not. Sasuke sure as hell wasn't going to. But just in case it was a certain blond he favored, he reached over and picked up the phone. "Hello?" he spoke into it.

"Hi, Itachi," someone greeted. Itachi could hear the smile on Kisame's face.

"What is it, Kisame?" the brunet sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"What's the matter with you? Wasn't someone you expected?"

'Wasn't someone I wanted,' Itachi thought to himself before speaking out loud. "Kisame, you know that if you call, you need a reason."

"Yeah, some annoyances are running around and want to talk to you. I got them on the other line and they want to schedule a meeting to talk with you. You don't have an opening until Saturday two weeks from now, but I don't know if you got any other plans in mind or if you filled that in yourself."

"You sound like a secretary," Itachi pointed out as he minimized the program he had up before pulling up another that was like a calendar with writing on almost every date. "No, I don't have anything planned that day. Go ahead and tell them that."

"Got it," Kisame said. "Just wanted to make sure. I was planning on telling them when, but I didn't know if you planned without telling me and everyone else."

"You know that I always tell you and the others if I made a change in plans since I need you all to know my schedule when I'm working elsewhere."

"Give me a minute and I'll let them know," Kisame stated before a beep was heard. Itachi sighed as he pulled up the program he minimized, typing on the keyboard once again as he waited for his partner to get back on the phone. Eventually, another beep was heard before Kisame spoke. "Why do you work at that school anyway?"

"Did you tell them when I will be meeting with them?" Itachi asked as he continued typing.

"Yes, I told them," Kisame sighed. "Now can you answer my question?"

"Because I don't feel like sitting at a desk all day doing nothing," Itachi blankly said.

"Don't you do that at the school?"

"Sasuke said the same thing. But no. At the school, I can yell at brats to shut up."

"…Don't you do that at the company?"

Itachi growled under his breath.

"Just playing around with you, Itachi," Kisame laughed. The brunet didn't reply, he just kept working on his computer. "I know the real reason why you wanted to work at Konoha High."

"Oh really?" Itachi said, pausing in his work. "And what would that be? In case you're thinking what I think you're thinking, no, it has nothing to do with being close to old memories from when we were in high school with the others."

"I wasn't going to say that!" Kisame scoffed. "But I think a certain younger brother of a friend that disappeared a few years ago might have something to do with it." Itachi froze, a thin red line crossing over his cheeks as he blinked a couple times. "Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?"

"Kisame, we're done with our business," Itachi pointed out. "You called to see if I didn't have anything planned on that Saturday and now I do because of that meeting. We have no further business for now."

"Just proves I was right!" Kisame cheered before Itachi slammed the phone down, looking at the clock at the bottom of the computer screen. It was close to eleven. He sighed, finally realizing why he felt so tired. He can stay up pretty late, but he's had a bit of a stressful day with his younger brother being the normal pain in the ass. He saved the program he had up before closing out of it and heading to the bathroom to clean up a little bit.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Something shifting around on the bed woke the brunet up, making him blink a couple times to clear his groggy vision before looking at the foot of the bed, where the movement was coming from. His eyes went wide when he saw someone there. But not just any someone. It was Naruto, wearing a orange robe that was sliding off his shoulders, low enough to expose his chest. His hands were stuffed into the crinkled area of the robe between his bent legs that were tucked underneath him. "Naruto?" Itachi softly called as he sat up. Naruto just looked at him with his bright blue eyes. "What are you doing here? It's late. How did you even get in?"

"I still had the key Sasuke gave me a while back," Naruto admitted. "I thought I could still keep it since he forgot all about it and I might need someone to talk to late at night."

"How long were you there?" the brunet asked, leaning back a bit until he was supported up by his elbows. "Did you come over dressed in only that robe?" Naruto nodded a couple times, his eyes locked with Itachi's. "Someone could have seen you, Naruto. And you could have gotten into trouble. Why didn't you call? I could have gone over to your apartment if you called me."

"I didn't want to be at home," the blond replied. "And I didn't want you to waste gas picking me up."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong, Naruto?" he asked before the teen crawled towards him, laying his head on Itachi's bare chest once he was straddling his stomach. "Naruto," Itachi calmly called, trying to fight down the heat rising to his cheeks.

"I didn't want to be at home," Naruto whispered. "And I didn't want to be alone anymore." Naruto lifted his head slightly before lifting himself up and pressing his lips fully against Itachi's. Itachi's eyes went wide as the blond wrapped his arms around the Uchiha's neck. Then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around the teen's waist, pulling Naruto closer to him. Naruto's fingers tangled into Itachi's hair as the older brunet moved his hands to slide underneath Naruto's legs. Naruto moaned as Itachi nipped at his bottom lip, asking for entrance. The blond complied.

Itachi moved the blanket from between them before rolling them over so that Naruto was laying on his back and the brunet was hovering over him, Naruto's legs around his waist. Itachi pulled away from the kiss before looking at Naruto's body. The robe slipped open a little more, showing Naruto in only his boxers underneath. "Defiantly could have gotten into trouble on your way here," he stated, lowering his head into the crook of Naruto's neck before nipping on the tan skin. Naruto's hands slid down the Uchiha's back, tugging at the rim of Itachi's boxers as the brunet continued kissing at his neck.

"Itachi," Naruto moaned as Itachi moved downwards from Naruto's neck to his chest, sucking on the harden nubs that were there as his hands trailed to Naruto's erection that Itachi could feel growing against his own. The tip of his finger kept getting close, but never touched, which made Naruto both disappointed, but moan pleasurably. Itachi pulled away, removing his hand as well, before sliding Naruto's boxers off. He lowered his head once again before engulfing Naruto's harden member into his mouth, playing with the blonde's balls as he bobbed his head, nipping and sucking the tip.

Naruto moaned out loudly, his fingers tangled into Itachi's hair once again as his hips thrusted up. Itachi held Naruto's waist down so he wouldn't be gagged. The blond started to pant as Itachi continued his teasing before shouting out loudly as he came into the brunet's mouth. "If I have to take my clothes off, you do, too," Naruto whispered into Itachi's ear when the Uchiha started to nip at the blonde's neck again. He chuckled as Naruto sat up a bit and removed his boxers, kissing him on the lips while he did so before he pulled away before taking one of Itachi's hands and sticking the fingers in his mouth.

His tongue slid between each digit, coating every inch Itachi's fingers with a layer of saliva before laying back down on his back, his legs still wrapped around Itachi's waist. As he was about to slide his fingers into Naruto's tight heat, an annoying beeping noise woke him from his sleep. He looked over to the alarm clock that was flashing the time in bright red numbers. He groaned as he turned it off and sat up. "Haven't had one of those in a while," he muttered, letting out another when he felt painful throbbing between his legs. He had one of two choices. Deal with it himself or let the cold water calm it down. "I need a really long, really cold shower," he muttered as he got up from the bed and went towards the bathroom connected to his bedroom.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Itachi remained quiet in the living room, watching the news as Sasuke ate breakfast on the couch on the opposite side of the room. "Sasuke," he spoke up before his brother looked at him. "I doubt you finished your homework last night. I suggest you do so before you get into trouble with one of your teachers."

"How can you tell if I did or didn't finish my homework?" Sasuke scoffed, turning his attention back to the reporter on the television.

"I can tell when you're hiding around the corner and listen to someone's private conversation," Itachi pointed out with a smirk. "Like when you were younger and were listening through doors when father spoke to me." Sasuke just snorted in a dignified way. "We still have thirty minutes until we need to leave, Sasuke. By the way, we're picking up Naruto."

"Why?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"Because Iruka is unable to and he still doesn't trust Naruto to get to school. He called me yesterday and asked for me to pick Naruto up this morning."

"And you agreed?"

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Itachi tautly asked. "I thought you still had feelings for him?"

"He's the one who wanted to break all strings to me!" Sasuke yelled. "He wants to stay away and avoid me, then fine! I don't care!"

"You're just still sore from Naruto's forced miscarriage," Itachi sighed as he turned the TV off. "Don't blame it all on Naruto, Sasuke. He was under a lot of stress and was confused. He didn't know what to do."

"Sure, defend him all you want," Sasuke scoffed. "He just didn't want that kid because it was mine."

"You would have made a terrible father in the first place." Sasuke growled at him. "I'm merely stating fact. You were a terrible lover to Naruto, so I doubt you were even close to being ready for a child."

"Oh, and you would be the perfect father?" Sasuke scoffed with a mocking smirk.

"I never said that," Itachi blankly pointed out. "I was merely saying that you would make a terrible father. You couldn't even take care of Naruto right. And he's your age. How on earth would you handle a child?"

"Why are we even talking about this?" the raven asked.

"Just because I enjoy taunting you," Itachi mocked with a smirk. "Anyway, get your stuff together and meet me outside in twenty minutes. I'll be going to pick Naruto up in a moment."

"You honestly think it'll take you twenty minutes to get there and get back?" Sasuke questioned with a raised eyebrow. Itachi just gave him a small look before getting to his feet and walking out the door. "Only if you get all greens and speed ten over the speed limit," Sasuke muttered to himself before going into the kitchen to fix himself some breakfast.

But that was the normal route for Sasuke. Itachi knew a shortcut. A straight line was always shorter then turning at an angle. As he started the car, he gave a small thought to the idea of both Sasuke and Naruto in the car at the same time. He sighed from the thought of the chaos before he drove down the street. He most likely would have to tie his younger brother up and throw him in the back just to make sure he doesn't do anything. And duck tape could always keep his mouth shut. Naruto probably wouldn't do anything but laugh at Sasuke being tied in the backseat. He chuckled from the mere thought as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Naruto's number.

"Hello?" a tired voice greeted.

"Morning, Naruto-kun," Itachi greeted back with a smirk on his lips. "Unfortunately, Iruka-san is unable to take you to school today."

"I can take the bus or walk," Naruto pointed out.

"I would rather you didn't," Itachi blankly stated. "But Iruka-san asked me to pick you up this morning and take you to school. Bad part of that means you have to spend a little time with Sasuke in the car." He heard Naruto groan. "I know you've been avoiding him. But if it will make you feel any better, I can tie him up and duck tape his mouth shut so he won't do or say anything."

Naruto laughed lightly. "Are you on your way right now?" he asked when he was done laughing.

"I'm almost there," Itachi replied. "I just left the house a moment ago. I'm taking the shortcut Kyuubi showed me sometime back."

"And you still remember it?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "Your memory is amazing, Itachi. But you don't need to pick me up."

"Iruka is paranoid, and I'll be honest, I am, too. You're lucky Iruka doesn't stay the nights with you."

"I'm not going to cut myself again, Itachi. Not unless I want all my friends coming after me and beating me to death if I survive. And if I don't, I will really have to hide from them in the afterworld. Them and Kyuubi."

Itachi chuckled slightly. "I don't count?"

"You're a friend of mine," Naruto pointed out with a small sigh before Itachi heard a ringing of some sort. "And I don't doubt that if I committed suicide, as soon as you died and joined me in the afterlife, you would come after me as well. Only you would find me."

"And punish you myself, without the help of the others," Itachi added with a small smirk. "But hopefully, you won't contemplate suicide again." Naruto gave a small laugh. "I'm almost there, so get your things together and meet me outside your apartment. Okay?"

"Okay," Naruto sighed as rustling met Itachi's ears. "I'll be out in a little bit." With that, he hung up and Itachi placed his phone down, pressing on the gas pedal a little hard to pass by the yellow light before it turned red. He did that to all the lights when they turned yellow, wanting to get to Naruto as soon as he possibly could without getting into trouble. It would be bad news if the President of Sharingan Incorporated was given a ticket for speeding. No one would let it go.

He pulled into the parking lot of the apartments where Naruto lived, seeing the teenage blond sitting on the steps with his backpack next to him. With a bright smile, he ran over to the vehicle and climbed into the car, tucking his pack under his legs in the front passenger seat. "Hey," he greeted before Itachi nodded at him, pulling out of the parking lot. "You really don't need to do this. I could have walked."

"I don't think Iruka would forgive me very easily if I just left you to walk, especially after what happened last Wednesday. He's paranoid, Naruto-kun."

"Apparently, you are, too," Naruto muttered under his breath as he crossed his arms over his chest. Itachi chuckled slightly. "Why is everyone so afraid I'm going to cut myself again?"

"Because some people, when they do it once, they say they won't do it again. Then later on, their friends and family find out that they still do it. That's why we're all protective right now. Iruka doesn't want you to hurt yourself again. Same with Kyuubi and your friends…and me."

Naruto sighed silently, turning his head to look out the window. "I'm really not ready to go into another relationship, Itachi," he stated.

"I know," Itachi assured. "That's why I'll wait, like I have been doing. If you meet someone you want, I won't get in your way. As long as you're happy, Naruto, I'll leave you alone."

The teen turned his head to look back at the brunet next to him, who was staring out the windshield. With a small smile, he rested his head on Itachi's shoulder, nuzzling it like a cat for a brief moment before going still. "You never know," he sighed. "The person I might fall in love with next could be you."

Itachi gave a small chuckle. "Don't get my hopes up," he said, lifting one of his hands from the steering wheel before running it through the spiky blond locks. "I don't know what I would do if you did that and then found someone else."

"Sorry," Naruto whispered, slowly closing his eyes as Itachi ran his finger through the golden hair that adorned his head like a halo. "I didn't mean to."

"It's okay," Itachi sighed, turning the steering wheel slightly. "And as much as I enjoy your head on my shoulder, I suggest you stop that. Sasuke's outside waiting for me."

The teen nodded before pulling his head away as Sasuke came over to the car, opening one of the back doors before tossing his backpack inside and climbing in as well, buckling the seatbelt over his chest and lap. He sighed slightly as Itachi pulled out of the driveway and started towards the school. The older Uchiha could already sense the tension in the car. Sasuke's annoyance and Naruto's uneasiness clashed against each other all over the inside of the vehicle. Naruto turned his head to look at the raven, who just stared out the window next top him. "Sasuke?" he called. Sasuke glanced at him before looking back out the window. "You're still mad at me, aren't you?"

"I'm mad about a lot of things," Sasuke confirmed.

Naruto sighed, turning back to look out the windshield blankly. Itachi glanced at him, resisting the urge to pull him into a one-arm hug and glare at his brother. He settled with just the glaring. Sasuke scoffed from it.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

There was no one this could actually happen in a single day. First, the talk with Naruto in the car. Second, his brother was being cold to Naruto in the car. And now this. Both Tobi and Deidara were in his classroom. Tobi was sitting on the chair, playing with a pen he found somewhere, defiantly not in Itachi's desk since it was unfamiliar to him. And the blond man was sitting on the desk, tossing a clay ball up and down before molding it into something else. "What are you two doing here?" Itachi asked, closing the door behind him.

"We just thought we'd drop by for a visit, un!" Deidara chirped, jumping down form the desk before wrapping the clay object in a wet rag and stuffing it into a plastic bag he had hidden in his pocket. He couldn't tell if Tobi even glanced at him because of the orange and black spiral mask with only one eyehole that he always wore and rarely removed.

"Again, what are you two doing here?" the brunet asked once more, impatient for an answer this time.

"Well," Tobi began. "We thought that maybe you could use a break and we'll take over for you!" Itachi could almost hear the smile he knew was on Tobi's lips.

"Not gonna happen," Itachi stated, walking over to his desk. "Out of my chair." Tobi gave a small groan of disappointment before getting to his feet and letting Itachi take the chair. "Now what are you doing here? And don't make me ask you again."

Deidara sighed before pulling out a manila folder and holding it out to the Uchiha, who took it silently before opening it and flipping through the pages. "You called us last night to get information on the people who wanted to have that meeting with you, un. That's all we found out. The boss of the place calls himself 'Kazekage'. We don't know why he calls himself that, but he just does, un. The company is called 'Suna Corporation' and believe it or not, his children go to this school, un." Itachi looked up at them with a raised eyebrow.

"He's talking about Sabaku Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari," Tobi pointed out. "If you have any questions about this 'Kazekage' fellow, you can probably ask them."

"I most likely will," Itachi said, closing the folder and placing it down on top of the desk, under a pile of papers. "I can talk to Sabaku Kankuro first. I have him in my second hour." The two nodded slightly before Itachi sighed slightly. "Do me one more favor, though," he added. "You two are the best people to ask for information gathering. I want you to find as much information as you can about the Suna Corporation. Find out what they are for. If they build anything, and if they do, what. Can you two handle that much?"

"Of course we can, un!" Deidara assured as Tobi nodded vigorously.

"Then we have no further business, do we?" Catching the dismissal, the two nodded once to him before turning around and walking out the door. Itachi sighed, leaning into his chair as his eyes glanced towards the folder he hid under papers. Defiantly not the best day so far.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-


	7. Beach Time

Beach Time

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Naruto was once again home alone. All his homework was done, so he didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. He was tempted to call his friends and see if they weren't busy and wanted to hang out with him, but the chances of them not being busy were lower then the chances they were busy. He sighed loudly. Days like this were when he was generally with Sasuke. But now, as far as he knew, there was no one to keep him company.

He glanced over at the phone, thinking about who he could call. He already tried Gaara, but Kankuro said the red-head was with Lee for a movie. Then he tried Chouji, but he was with Shikamaru. After calling Kiba to see if he wanted to run around town and play a few pranks on unsuspecting civilians, he gave up on trying to contact someone since the brunet was hanging with his boyfriend as well.

A sigh escaped his lips as he collapsed onto the bed, his arms crossed over each other under his head as he stared at the ceiling. He chewed on the inside of his cheeks gently, the tip of his tongue running over the back of his front teeth before he gave a small click of his tongue. He turned his head to the side a little bit to stare at the computer, stack of books, and then the phone.

To call or not to call? Chances of Sasuke picking up? High in case Sasuke was expecting someone else to call. Chances of Itachi picking up? Slim to none in case he would not be there or he was just not in the mood to talk to someone.

With another sigh, Naruto sat up and went over to the desk that the phone sat upon. He knew it sounded ridiculous to even think something like this, but he could swear the phone was taunting him.

'Go ahead and call,' it taunted him. 'You know you want to. But why oh why must you be so afraid of your ex picking up? Just call. Itachi will be there.'

"Possibility he'll be there," Naruto muttered, not believing he was replying to the phone's imaginative taunting. "I am losing my mind. Talking back at a phone. Yeah, that's as bad as yelling at a malfunctioning computer."

'Call!'

"Shut up!"

'Fine then. I'll ring.' And it did precisely that.

"Now that's scary," Naruto muttered as he picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Naruto!" he heard Kiba's voice greet back.

"Kiba? I thought you were with Shino."

"Well it's the weekend and it's burning hot so we talked and called the others and thought 'Hey, why not visit the beach?'. So, you all for it?"

"Yeah, I'm up for it!" Naruto eagerly replied. "Um, where we gonna meet?"

"Don't sweat it," Kiba assured pleasantly. "The movie Gaara and Lee went to ended sooner then they thought, so they're already on their way to the meeting spot. Temari and Kankuro are coming to get you. And don't worry, we didn't invite Sasuke. Not sure if you were comfortable being around him yet or not."

"Not entirely," Naruto admitted with a shrug. "They already on their way over?"

"Yeah, I talked to them before I called you," Kiba replied. "So get ready and they most likely will be there in another ten to fifteen minutes."

"Alright then. Hey, Haku coming?"

"Yeah, and get this, he's dragging Zabuza-sensei along."

"No way!" the blond gasped. "Zabuza's intimidating! How can Haku handle being around that guy all the time?"

"Beats me, but I think they're secretly dating. Haku's in his senior year, and his birthday was last month. He's legal age. But teacher-student relationships are forbidden, so if they are dating, they aren't telling anyone."

"Haku would have told us, though," Naruto pointed out. "He never keeps secrets from us."

"He's also a bit paranoid, remember? His parents did kick him out when he was dating a guy that was twenty when he was sixteen. He probably thinks we'll react the same way and call him a whore or whatever."

"We would never do that," Naruto grumbled.

"He knows that, but hey, he's paranoid. Anyway, get ready."

"Okay. See ya later, Kiba."

"See ya." The phone went dead.

'Call and invite Itachi!' the phone started to encourage.

"Now this is getting weird," Naruto muttered as he put the phone down and started to pack up for the beach.

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Temari and Kankuro came and got him about ten minutes after he got off the phone with Kiba. Temari said that she got all green lights when Naruto asked how they got to his place so fast. Kankuro said she was speeding the entire time. Something told Naruto Kankuro was the one telling the truth and Temari was just telling a little white lie. He didn't know what gave it away. Probably the fact that Temari was speeding the entire time on their way to the meeting point before heading to the beach.

Naruto and Kankuro joked around the entire trip, annoying Temari to no ends, but that was the reason why they were doing it. When she snapped at them to be quiet, Naruto joked around, saying that they were brought into this world just for the sole purpose of annoying her. She hit him on the head. Eventually, after much arguing and teasing, they made it to the meeting point where everyone else was gathered. Almost everyone was there, for the exception of Sasuke and his fangirls.

Haku was resting his head on Zabuza's shoulder against the wall. Kiba was running around with something that Sai either owned or obviously wanted since the Sasuke-look-alike was chasing the dog boy. Shino was just sitting calmly at a table, watching Kiba to make sure he didn't hurt himself, like he was commonly prone to do. Not too far from him was Gaara, watching the chase with a smirk on his face, just waiting for Sai to tackle Kiba to the ground. Lee was encouraging the two. Neji was just shaking his head at the two maniacs before talking with Hinata, who was sitting next to him. Shikamaru was, no surprise, laying on the grass and looking up at the cloudy sky with Chouji sitting next to him, munching on yet another bag of chips. Tenten was sitting close to Neji and Hinata, joining into the conversation between them every now and then.

He couldn't place the reason why, but the gang just didn't feel complete without Sasuke and the two stalkers of his. Naruto shook his head slightly, casting the thought from his mind, before going over to someone to ask what Kiba was holding onto. Apparently, it was Sai's, but it did creep Naruto out about it. It was a picture of him in school taking a nap outside during lunch with his shirt sliding up his stomach. Gaara was the one that gave the details as to what the picture was.

"Oh, and like you never did the same thing?" Sai asked in a challenging tone with a smile on his face when he heard Gaara say he couldn't believe Sai had the picture at all.

"That was before I started dating Lee," Gaara pointed out. "And when I was dating Naruto."

"Wasn't that in Junior High?" Haku asked, looking over to the others.

"Yes," Naruto replied. "And Gaara, please tell me you got rid of that picture."

"I think I won't since it would be amusing to watch how Sai reacts when I tell him it's a picture of you in only a towel," Gaara said with a smirk towards Sai, who was now glaring at the red-head.

Temari came over, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder before the blond looked at her. "Don't worry," she whispered into his ear. "He got rid of it about a month after you two broke up. He wanted to keep it, but said it would make things a little awkward between you guys if he kept it."

"Thanks for making me feel a little better," Naruto sighed with a small smile before it fell. "Wait, does Lee know that? I don't want him going overprotective and wanting to kick my ass."

"Lee isn't the jealous type, unlike some guys we know," Temari assured. "And of course he knows. The only pictures of you that Gaara has also have everyone else in the gang in them. Group pictures, see?"

"Yeah. I see."

"I demand you hand over that picture!" Sai yelled, holding his hand out like he was expecting Gaara to pull it out of his pocket.

"Demand?" Gaara repeated dangerously through clenched teeth. "I do not think you have a right to demand me of anything." Lee, who was now a professional 'Gaara is about to snap' sensing expert, wrapped his arms around Gaara's shoulders before pulling the red-head into his chest protectively, like he wasn't going to let anyone approach Gaara and wasn't going to let Gaara try and attack anyone else.

"At least Lee can handle him a lot better then I ever could," Naruto snickered as Sai backed away from the couple, snatching his picture from an unsuspecting Kiba, who was talking to Tenten about something.

"I think you handled Gaara pretty well when you two were dating," Temari said with a small shrug. "But I bet Sasuke was harder."

"Trust me, he was," Naruto laughed out.

"Hey!" Kiba yelled out. "Are we going to the beach or what?!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Kiba!" Naruto complained as the brunet splashed him when he surfaced from ducking a wave. "At least let me breathe!"

"You should have expected that!" Kiba yelled back at him before ducking a splash Naruto sent towards him. He surfaced with a gasp. "Hey, Naruto!" he called before the blond glared towards him. "Race you to the shore! Loser has to buy the winner an ice cream!"

"You're on!" Naruto called back before both started swimming at top speed to the welcoming warm sand of the beach. A wave picked them up before slamming them onto the sand harshly. "Ow," Naruto groaned, rolling over onto his back.

"I can see why you duck the waves," Kiba groaned next to him. "Looks like a tie."

"Then we pay for our own," Naruto suggested as he got back to his feet. "Hey, where did Haku and Zabuza go?"

"They went to get something to eat," Shikamaru replied from his spot under a large umbrella that cast a shadow over almost every part of him. The only parts of him that the sun touched were the lower parts of his legs and his feet. "Something that would actually fill them up."

"Chouji with them?" Kiba asked.

"Chouji discovered the snack bar," Shikamaru said with a chuckle and a smirk on his lips. "And in case you're wondering, Hinata went with Neji and Tenten to try and calm Lee down. For some stupid reason, someone gave him sake. Gaara is with Temari and Kankuro watching them. Shino is getting you an ice cream, Kiba, so you won't be so freaking hot when you got out of the water. And Sai, for some really weird reason, is attempting to make a Sand Man…anatomically correct Sand Man."

"Better stop him before he scars little kids," Naruto muttered. "Or is he doing it to annoy Gaara?"

"Probably both," Shikamaru replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Then I better go stop him," Naruto sighed as he looked around to try and spot Sai. When he did, he sprinted towards him, wanting to get to him before he was complete with his Sand Man. Thankfully, Sai only got as far as the head, chest, shoulders, and stomach when Naruto got to him. "Sai, what are you doing and why?" he asked, hands on his hips as he glared at the paler teen. Sai just smiled up at him.

"I'm making an anatomically correct Sand Man," Sai cheerfully said with the same creepy smile he always wore on his lips.

"Yeah, Shikamaru told me that much," Naruto pointed out, looking down at the Sand Man. For some reason, it looked close to Gaara. "You're doing this to annoy Gaara, aren't you?"

"He didn't give me the picture," Sai replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Naruto sighed. "Sai," he growled out through gritted teeth. "Gaara got rid of that picture a month after we broke up."

"You mean he was joking when he told me he had that picture?" Sai asked in a depressed tone, lowering his head in mock depression.

"He HAD a picture like that, but he doesn't have it anymore. Stop trying to annoy him." Sai just shrugged slightly before putting his smile back on his face and getting back to work on his Sand Man. "Did you not hear what I just said?"

"I heard you," Sai assured. "But now this is revenge for him lying to me like that." Naruto sighed in annoyance before grabbing Sai by the muscle shirt he wore and dragging him away once he was done destroying as much of the Sand Man as he could. "That wasn't very nice, Naru-chan."

Naruto dropped him onto the sand. "Sai, how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?!" he asked calmly before he yelled his question at the top of his lungs.

"But I love to see you so angry," Sai cheerfully stated. "You look cute when you're mad."

"I'm not trying to be cute, Sai," Naruto growled through clenched teeth.

"Well I'll just go ahead and say it," Sai sighed. "You don't have the face for anger and glaring. You have a pouting face. A face that will remain cute no matter what you try to show that you would currently be feeling." Naruto still tried glaring at him. "You still look just as cute. No wonder you're the heart-throb uke of our school."

"And the heart-throb seme is Sasuke," Naruto grumbled, lowering his head slightly.

"And it didn't surprise anyone when you two started dating," Sai continue, wearing a smile on his face. "You won't believe how many people were thinking you and Sasuke would eventually end up getting married when you two were dating so long. But of course, you never date anyone longer than you allow yourself to."

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Sasuke changed from the guy I fell in love with," he lowly said. "He used to be romantic. Now he's just like most of the male population in our school." He sighed, turning his head to the side opposite of Sai. "It was a hard blow for me to break up with him, to be honest."

"Some things just aren't meant to last," Sai stated. "But now that you're single-!"

"The answer is 'no'," Naruto growled, turning his head towards the dark-haired teen next to him. He knew what Sai was about to ask him. "I'm not ready to go into another relationship just yet. And I don't want to date you, Sai. I like you, but only as a friend. Okay? Besides, you're worse than Sasuke when it comes to sexual behavior."

Sai blinked a couple times. "And how would you know that?" he asked with a charming smile.

"Sai, I know how you are," Naruto blankly stated. "I've been your friend since Junior High, you talk about penises and other perverted crap, and not to mention that I sometimes overhear people you've dated in the past talking about you. So again, you're worse than Sasuke."

"I'm much better than him," Sai defended himself.

Naruto continued staring blankly at him. "Sasuke never had one-night stands," the blond stated with a small smirk before quickening his pace to get to the others quickly, leaving Sai behind.

"So I had about twenty one-night stands," Sai muttered under his breath with a shrug, keeping his pace the way it was as he followed after Naruto. "What guy hasn't?"

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End file.
